Inflation Ticked Up Again in January StatsCanada today reported that consumer price inflation rose to 5.1% from year-ago levels in January, compared to 4.8% in December. This was higher than expected but still well below US inflation posted at 7.5% for the same period. Undoubtedly, this puts additional pressure on the Bank of Canada to […]

Federal Fiscal Update: Canada Has Weathered The Pandemic Storm Relatively Well Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland extolled the performance of the Canadian economy in response to the extraordinary support provided by the federal fiscal authorities and the Bank of Canada in the past 21 months. The economic recovery has been the second strongest in the g-7, […]

Canadian Economy Bounced Back Sharply In Q3 In line with the Bank of Canada’s forecast, the economy rebounded sharply in the third quarter following the weak performance in Q2. Stats Canada announced this morning that GDP grew by a whopping 5.4% in Q3 following the downwardly revised 3.2% earlier in Q2. As pandemic restrictions phased out […]

Inflation Surge Is No Need For Hysteria StatsCanada today reported that consumer price inflation rose to 4.7% from year-ago levels in October, compared to 4.4% in September. This is in line with market expectations and is well below the US’s 6.2% pace reported for the same period. Inflation is rising all over the world, the […]

Prices are Rising Everywhere–Transitory Can Last A Long Time Today’s release of the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Canada showed year-over-year (y/y) inflation rising from 4.1% in August to 4.4%, its highest level since February 2003. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 3.5% y/y last month. The monthly CPI rose 0.2% in September, at the […]

Home Prices Still Rising As Falling Sales Reflect Insufficient Supply Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing home sales fell a slight 0.5% nationally from July to August 2021–the fifth consecutive monthly decline. Over the same period, the number of newly listed properties edged up 0.8%, and the MLS Home Price Index rose […]

The Slowdown In Canadian Housing Continued in June Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing home sales fell 8.4% nationally from May to June 2021, marking the third consecutive monthly decline. Over the same period, the number of newly listed properties fell 0.7%, and the MLS Home Price Index rose 0.9%, a marked deceleration from previous months. […]

Canada’s Jobs Recovery Derailed By Third-Wave Restriction This morning, Statistics Canada released the May 2021 Labour Force Survey showing another contraction in employment, albeit not as dramatic as in April.  With the geographical broadening in lockdown restrictions in May, employment fell by 68,000 (-0.4%), but almost all of the decline was in part-time work.  The number […]

Bank of Canada Scales Back Bond Buying April 21st 2021, the Bank of Canada held its target for the overnight rate at the effective lower bound of ¼ percent. The Bank is also adjusting its bond-buying program from weekly net purchases of Government of Canada (GoC) bonds of $4 billion to $3 billion. This adjustment to […]

Strong Canadian Economic Growth in Q4 and January This morning’s Stats Canada release showed that economic growth in the final quarter of last year was a surprisingly strong 9.6% (annualized). The surge in growth in January was even more interesting, estimated at a 0.5% (not annualized) pace. If these numbers pan out, it means that Canada […]