Month: January 2024

The Bank of Canada Holds Rates Steady And Expects Rate Cuts Later This Year Today, The Bank of Canada held the overnight rate at 5% for the fourth consecutive meeting but provided an outlook suggesting that monetary easing will begin by mid-year. The Bank forecasts a soft landing for the Canadian economy, with inflation falling…

A Bumpy Road To The Inflation Target Canada’s headline inflation number for December ’23 moved up three bps to 3.4%, as expected, as gasoline prices didn’t fall as fast as a year ago. These so-called base effects were also evident in the earlier US inflation data for the same month. Additional acceleration came from airfares,…

Canadian Home Sales Surprisingly Strong in December Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show national home sales were up noticeably month-over-month in December 2023. The December rise of 8.7% was one of last year’s strongest monthly performances.  The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions was 3.7% above December 2022, the largest…

Brisk Wage Gains in December Will Keep The BoC Watchful Today’s StatsCanada Labour Force Survey for December was a mixed bag and far more robust than the weak headline figure suggests. Total employment in Canada barely budged, rising by a mere 100 jobs in the final month of last year. However, the labour force participation…