Latest News Kim Stenberg 19 Jul
Canadian Inflation Falls Within Bank of Canada’s Target Range; Food and Shelter Costs Remain High June inflation data released today by Statistics Canada showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.8% year-over-year (y/y), slightly below expectations. This was the lowest CPI reading since February 2022. The decline in inflation was mainly due to lower energy […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 17 Jul
Bank of Canada June Rate Hike Spooks the Housing Market The Canadian Real Estate Association says the BoC’s surprise rate hike in early June cooled activity following a two-month solid start to the spring housing season. Home sales posted a 1.5% gain between May and June, tepid by recent standards. Sales were up in June […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 13 Jul
Interest Rates Will Stay Higher for Longer The Bank of Canada increased the overnight policy rate by 25 basis points this morning to 5.0%, its highest level since March 2001. Never before has a policy action been so widely expected. Still, the Bank’s detailed outlook in the July Monetary Policy Report (MPR) suggests stronger growth […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 10 Jul
Employment growth last month came in at a whopping 60,000 jobs, tripling expectations, and most of those net new jobs were for full-time workers. As our population grows, more people are available to fill job vacancies. Employment rose in wholesale and retail trade (+33,000), manufacturing (+27,000), health care and social assistance (+21,000) and transportation and […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 27 Jun
The May inflation data, released this morning by Statistics Canada, bore no surprises. The year-over-year (y/y) inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) at 3.4% was just as expected–down a full percentage point from the April reading. This is the smallest increase since June 2021. Economists hit this one on the head because we knew dropping the April […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 7 Jun
Holy Smokes, the Bank of Canada Means Business If there were any doubt that the Bank of Canada wanted inflation to fall to 2%, it would be obliterated today. In a relatively surprising move, the Bank hiked the overnight policy rate by 25 bps to 4.75%, and an equivalent hike will follow in the prime […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 31 May
Good News is Bad News for the Bank of Canada The Canadian economy continues to show marked resilience to high-interest rates. Statistics Canada released data this morning showing real GDP rose at an above-consensus 3.1% annual rate in the first quarter of this year. The estimate for April growth was also firm, a harbinger of continued strength […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 17 May
The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales in April surged 11.3% month-over-month. The Spring rebound was on the heels of smaller back-to-back gains in the prior two months. Now that the Bank of Canada paused interest rate hikes and home prices in most regions have softened, homebuyers are scrambling for the minimal available housing […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 16 May
There’s been an unexpected hiccup in the Bank of Canada’s ongoing battle against inflation. Year-over-year, price pressures escalated to 4.4% in April, an uptick from the previous month’s 4.3% and significantly exceeding the average economist’s prediction of 4.1%. This marks the first rise in overall inflation from the last June. Ironically, higher interest rates are intended to […]
Read MoreLatest News Kim Stenberg 24 Apr
On April 18, Canada’s national banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), released its second Annual Risk Outlook (ARO), outlining what it believes are the most significant headwinds facing the Canadian financial system – and what the regulator plans on doing about it. According to the report, the severe downturn in […]
Read More