Bank of Canada Holds Rates Steady In The Face Of Tariff Uncertainty–More Rate Cuts Coming The Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.75% at today’s meeting, as expected by half of the market, to mark the first hold following 225 basis points of cuts in seven consecutive decisions. The governing council noted that the unpredictability of the […]
Global Tariff Uncertainty Sidelines Buyers Canadian existing home sales plunged last month as tariff concerns again mothballed home-buying intentions. Consumer confidence has fallen to rock-bottom levels as many fear the prospect of job losses and higher prices. According to data released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association, existing home sales declined by 4.8% month-over-month. Along with declines in the […]
Weaker Than Expected Inflation May Not Be Enough to Trigger Another Bank of Canada Rate Cut Tomorrow Canadian consumer prices rose 0.3% in March (or remained flat when seasonally adjusted), which was lower than expected, reducing the annual inflation rate by 0.3 percentage points to 2.3%. This decrease in headline inflation followed the complete removal of the GST holiday in […]
Weak Canadian Job Creation Is The First Fallout From The Trade War Today’s Labour Force Survey for March was weaker than expected. Employment decreased by 33,000 (-0.2%) in March, the first decrease since January 2022. The decline in March followed little change in February and three consecutive months of growth in November, December and January, totalling 211,000 (+1.0%). The employment rate—the proportion of the population aged 15 and […]
Canadian Inflation Surged to 2.6% in February, Much Stronger Than Expected The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.6% year-over-year (y/y) in February, following an increase of 1.9% in January. With the federal tax break ending on February 15, the GST and HST were reapplied to eligible products. This put upward pressure on consumer prices for those items, as taxes paid by consumers are included in the CPI. While […]