Fewer Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, suggesting layoffs were subsiding and strengthening expectations for another month of blockbuster job growth in April as a re-opening economy unleashes pent-up demand.Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 547,000 for the week ended April 17 compared...
The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, holding on to its gains from the prior day as investors weighed the potential for the Bank of Canada to reduce stimulus further over coming months.The loonie was trading nearly unchanged at 1.2502 to the greenback, or 79.99...
Canada’s inflation-targeting central bank just acknowledged that inflation is headed above its 2-per-cent target in the post-COVID-19 recovery. And you know what? It’s okay with that.The Bank of Canada had plenty of interesting – and, mostly, encouraging – things to say in its eagerly awaited interest-rate decision and quarterly Monetary...
The annual pace of inflation jumped higher in March due in large part to a plunge in prices a year ago at the start of the pandemic.Statistics Canada said Wednesday the consumer price index in March was up 2.2 per cent compared with a year ago.The increase compared with a...
The Bank of Canada is cutting its pace of government bond buying and moving forward its timing for a rate hike after dramatically raising growth projections for the Canadian economy.The central bank said Wednesday that it will reduce its pace of Government of Canada bond purchases, known as quantitative easing,...
The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday as lower oil prices offset domestic data showing a pickup in underlying inflation, while investors awaited an interest rate decision from the Bank of Canada.The loonie was trading 0.2% lower at 1.2628 to the greenback, or 79.19 U.S. cents, having...
Canadian home prices accelerated sharply in March, with Halifax and Hamilton leading a bonanza of month-on-month gains felt across all 11 major markets in the country, data showed on Tuesday.The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which tracks data collected from public land registries to measure changes for repeat sales...
The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, with the currency extending its recent sideways pattern after Monday’s federal budget and ahead of a Bank of Canada interest rate decision on Wednesday.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government lined up billions in new spending to provide emergency...
Well, let’s call the Canadian federal budget for what it is: a pre-election slate of goodies aimed at regaining the Liberal majority. More than 200 spending initiatives and several brought in during the pandemic are being made permanent, with child care subsidies a major cornerstone. Spending is now projected to...
The pandemic in Eastern Europe has never been worse.The region went through the first wave, a year ago, with relatively minor damage compared with Western Europe. But the second and third waves have proved much crueller, with ICUs in some countries, including Hungary and Poland, near breaking point.Statistics from the...
How do governments speak to their people? Not just through dubious slogans and broken promises.Their serious and committed voices are expressed through tax policy. In the Western world, one message has come across loud and clear: Governments prefer corporations to middle-class individuals and, as proof, have repeatedly lightened the tax...
U.S. President Joe Biden found out the hard way that supply chain obstacles are bad news for Corporate America. He moved fast to hand US$50-billion to the U.S. semiconductor industry after chip shortages began to shut down auto production.The chip glitch was a wake-up call for car companies, which had...
The world’s biggest mining companies are both blessed and cursed.They are blessed because most of them produce the commodities – copper, nickel, cobalt, among others – that are essential for the transition to the “clean” economy. They are cursed because most of these same companies also produce the commodities –...
The annual pace of housing starts in Canada soared higher in March as it climbed 21.6 per cent compared with February.Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose to 335,200 units, up from 275,567 in February.The annual pace of urban starts rose 24.4...
The Canadian dollar strengthened to a one-month high against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as the greenback broadly declined and ahead of a federal budget that is expected to spend big amid a fast-rising third wave of COVID-19 infections.Canada will present a budget on Monday, at about 4 p.m. (2000...
Canadian home sales and prices hit another record in March, with prices spiralling up in most of Ontario as calls intensified for measures to slow the country’s unruly market.There were 76,259 home resales last month, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association, surpassing the previous record set last July when...
Looking for investing ideas? Here’s your weekly digest of the Globe’s latest insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies plus what investors need to know for the week ahead. • Canada approves world’s first Ether ETFs for retail investors • Are these the stock market returns of...
The Bank of Canada is expected to reduce its pace of federal government bond buying this week in response to an improving economic outlook, while maintaining a cautious tone amid soaring COVID-19 cases and heightened lockdown measures in Ontario.Most analysts are forecasting a $1-billion cut to the central bank’s weekly...
Canadian wholesale sales fell 0.7 per cent in February to $68.8 billion as the building material and supplies sector and auto industry moved lower.Statistics Canada said Friday the drop was the second move lower in three months, but noted that sales in February were still the second highest on record...
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Friday, turning higher for the week, as higher oil prices and a broader decline for the greenback offset domestic data showing a bigger-than-expected drop in wholesale trade.The U.S. dollar was set to post a second week of losses amid an extended...