Articles
OSFI Is At It Again Late last week, the Office of the Superintendent for Financial Institutions (OSFI) announced it was concerned about the risks associated with the large and rising number of highly indebted borrowers, especially those with floating-rate mortgages, which stands at a record proportion of outstanding mortgage loans. With the economy in danger…
December Housing Data Ended 2022 On A Weak Note Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show national home sales were up month-over-month in December while new listings plummeted and national home prices fell again. Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems increased 1.3% between November and December 2022. Ottawa and Edmonton…
Employment Report Ended 2022 With A Boom Today’s Labour Force Survey for December was much stronger than expected, raising the odds of a 25 bps increase in the policy rate by the Bank of Canada on January 25th. While the Bank has hiked rates by 400 bps to 4.25%, core inflation remains sticky, wages have…
The Bank of Canada Won’t Like This Inflation Report November’s CPI inflation rate fell only one tick to 6.8%, despite gasoline prices falling. This follows a two-month reading of 6.9%. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 5.4% yearly last month, up from 5.3% in October. Critical gauges of underlying price pressure were mixed but continued…
Another Month, Another Dip in Housing Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show home sales edged down in November. National home sales fell 3.3% between October and November, continuing the moderating sales trend that began last February on the precipice of unprecedented monetary policy tightening. Sales are down a whopping 39%…
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions raised the capital buffer financial institutions must hold to three per cent, citing increased risked from high household indebtedness and the rapid rise in interest rates. The financial watchdog also increased the capital buffer’s range, or the policy tool to keep the country’s financial stability in check,…
Sherry Cooper, chief economist with Dominion Lending Centres, joins BNN Bloomberg for reaction to the Bank of Canada’s 50bps hike. She says the central bank will need to see the labour market cool and that it will likely not pivot to rate cuts until 2024. Click here to watch the video now!
The Bank of Canada Hiked Rates The Full 50 bps The Governing Council of the Bank of Canada raised its target for the overnight policy rate by 50 basis points today to 4.25% and signalled that the Council would “consider whether the policy interest rate needs to rise further to bring supply and demand back into…
Today’s Labour Force Survey for November will do little to assuage the Bank of Canada’s concern about inflation. While employment growth slowed to 10,100 net new jobs–down sharply from October’s reading–the report’s underlying details point to excess labour demand and rising wages. This is compounded by Monday’s data release showing that the Canadian economy grew…
Bank of Canada Will Not Be Happy With This Inflation Report Not only did the headline CPI inflation rate stall at 6.9% last month, but the core CPI numbers remain stubbornly high. Food inflation–a highly visible component–edged down slightly. Still, prices for food purchased from stores (+11.0%) continued to increase faster year over year than the…