Author: Sherry Cooper

Today’s budget included everything I expected and nothing that I feared. The fears first—there is no change in the tax treatment of capital gains or stock options, despite continued rumours and speculation. Indeed, in a press conference in the lock-up, Minister Morneau said that stock options tax changes are off the table because they are…

A happy accident marked the beginning of a stellar career for Sherry Cooper. Then a student at Goucher College in Baltimore, she took her first economics class because she needed to fill a slot in her study schedule. That choice opened the door to Sherry’s future as a leader in the field of finance. “It…

Today’s stronger than expected fourth quarter GDP figure of 0.8% annualized growth did little to assuage concerns that the Canadian economy is growing well below potential. Many expected growth to be flat in the final quarter of last year. The growth figure released today by Statistics Canada was boosted by the biggest drop in imports…

Diverging Housing Markets Continue Data released earlier this week for January showed the stunning disparity in regional housing markets in Canada (see chart below). Vancouver remains the red-hot leader with year-over-year (y/y) price gains of 20.6% and home resales growth of an eye-popping 32.1%. In comparison, Toronto’s housing market seems almost tepid, with an annual…

In an evenly divided call by market analysts, the Bank of Canada maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1/2 percent. The Bank said that inflation prospects are largely as expected and that “the dynamics of the global economy are broadly as anticipated in the Bank’s October Monetary Policy Report (MPR).” Really?  Oil prices…

Expectations of a Bank of Canada rate cut next week are mounting and for good reason. The Canadian economy is showing signs of considerable weakness and business investment plans have been cut. Oil prices continue to decline sharply and Iranian oil supply will be coming on stream shortly. Energy companies continue to slash payrolls and…

From Business News Network (BNN): The impact of collapsing crude prices is putting a damper on Canadian business sentiment far beyond the oil patch, the Bank of Canada said in its quarterly business outlook survey. BNN speaks to Sherry Cooper, Chief Economist, Dominion Lending Centres for reaction.

For the first time in nine years, the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked their key policy rate–the overnight federal funds rate–by one-quarter percentage point (25 basis points) to a range of 1/4 to 1/2 percent. The policy-making Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said that the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting further improvement in…

Unfortunately, Statistics Canada had more bad news for us this morning–a weak November jobs report and a big decline in trade for October–both of which portend a marked slowdown in growth in the final quarter of this year. At the same time, the U.S. released a strong enough November employment report to assure that the…

The Bank of Canada kept the key overnight interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent as expected, as the Federal Reserve is poised to hike rates for the first time in nearly 10 years. The Bank’s decision did not, however, reflect complacency with the state of the Canadian economy, but rather a hand-off to the much…