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The policymakers at the U.S. central bank decided to leave the target range for the federal funds rate (equivalent to the Bank of Canada overnight rate) unchanged at 1 to 1-1/4 percent acknowledging that the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative. This stance will allow the labour markets in the U.S., which are already very…

BOC Will Raise Rates Only Cautiously The Bank of Canada held overnight interest rates at 1.0% following two consecutive rate hikes at the July and September meetings. It was widely expected that the Bank would take a breather this round. The central bank also released its quarterly Monetary Policy Report (MPR) today, in which it…

The Canadian economy has grown at a stronger-than-expected annual rate of 3.7% in the past year, taking the jobless rate down to its lowest level in nearly a decade. With Canada’s economy the strongest in the Group of Seven countries, Ottawa now projects much smaller deficits than it did in March. The Liberal government cut…

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales in September rose modestly from the previous month but remained below levels recorded one year ago. Resale activity was 12% below the record set in March, before the April announcement of a 15% foreign buyers’ tax and a sixteen-point program to enhance housing affordability…

While the headline net jobs gain was a disappointing 10,000–well below the average monthly increase in the past year–the underlying data in this morning’s StatsCanada release were quite robust. The jobless rate remained unchanged at 6.2 per cent as the acceleration in wage gains suggests that the economy is close to full employment. Average hourly…

Canada’s second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.5 per cent triggered two back-to-back rate hikes by the Bank of Canada. But today, Statistics Canada released data showing a slowdown in the monthly industry data for July. Canadian GDP held steady in July ending an eight-month streak of cosmic expansion. This slowing is consistent with…

While the Fed policymakers left rates unchanged today, as expected, they signalled that there would be one more rate hike this year and three next year. At least one Federal Reserve policymaker has joined Jim Bullard, President of the St. Louis Fed and the resident inflation dove, in predicting no rate hikes next year; but…

This morning’s release of the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data for August posted a modest uptick in sales last month, ending a string of four consecutive monthly declines. However, activity remained 13.8% below the record set in March, prior to the April announcement of a 15% foreign buyers’ tax and a sixteen-point program to…

The Bank of Canada told us just this week that they would be closely monitoring the employment data to assess the need for further tightening in monetary policy. The August jobs report confirmed that the Canadian labour market remains strong, moving closer to full employment. The country added 22,200 jobs in August, the ninth consecutive…

The Bank of Canada raised the target overnight rate another 25 basis points to 1.0% making it two hikes in a row following seven years of increasing monetary stimulus. The outsized 4.5% growth in GDP in the second quarter precipitated this action, despite two offsetting factors: the recent surge in the Canadian dollar, up more…