Economy

The Canadian dollar touched a two-week high against its broadly weaker U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as the Federal Reserve remained patient about reducing stimulus and the Bank of Canada reassured Canadians it would keep inflation under control.The U.S. dollar slipped to a one-month low against a basket of major currencies...

A seriously smart idea for advancing Canada’s national discussion on a guaranteed basic income entered debate in the House of Commons this week. It may exit without getting much further.How does Julie Dzerowicz, the Liberal backbencher who is spearheading the idea, feel about that?“It doesn’t matter,” she said in an...

Here’s a highly unscientific experiment to test how loud the inflation noise has become.Number of e-mails in my inbox from last week that contain the word “inflation”: 110Number of e-mails in my inbox from last week that contain the word “COVID”: 99Granted, the clutter of an economics journalist’s inbox skews...

We tend to think of government debt in terms of weight on public shoulders – something that we either have the strength to carry comfortably, or that will crush us if it gets too heavy. But perhaps a better way of considering Canada’s fiscal health is in terms that anyone...

Statistics Canada says the annual rate of inflation hit 3.1 per cent in June.The reading for the consumer price index is down from the 3.6 per cent recorded in May, which was the largest yearly increase in a decade.Statistics Canada says part of the reading for June has to do...

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday as stock markets calmed globally, but gains were capped by data showing national inflation rose less than expected in June.Global equities regained some poise as a storm in Chinese stocks showed signs of easing and investors awaited a Federal Reserve...

Mark Carney managed to fool an awful lot of people when he showed up, virtually of course, at the Liberal Party of Canada’s April convention promising to do “whatever I can” to help the Grits retain power in an election almost everyone expected would come this year.After a decade of...

Central bankers should let inflation run temporarily above target when the economy is coming out of a severe recession, according to new Bank of Canada research that provides a window into how the central bank is thinking about inflation as the pandemic wanes.The paper, published last week by three senior...

The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, as a sell-off in China’s stock market weighed on sentiment and a record low for U.S. bond yields after adjusting for inflation signalled worries about the economic outlook.World stocks fell after investors sold Chinese internet giants for a third...

The coronavirus crisis has spared the youth from the horrific fatality rates of their grandparents. COVID-19 victims in their 20s face perhaps a 0.2-per-cent chance of dying, less in some countries. But it’s a fantasy to say young people have had a good crisis, because they’re suffering from another disease...

High school and postsecondary graduates who are entering the labour force during the COVID-19 pandemic could lose thousands of dollars in earnings in the coming years because of the outbreak, according to a new study from Statistics Canada.If the youth unemployment rate stays close to its near-record level of 27.5...

New data from Statistics Canada show that while youth unemployment has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding full-time work has been increasingly precarious since the 1980s.The federal agency says both male and female workers between 15 and 30 were less likely to have a full-time job in 2019 compared with...

Activity is heating up in rental housing markets across Canada, a troubling sign for affordability in cities with a chronic shortage of available units.For years before COVID-19, markets from Vancouver to Prince Edward Island suffered from an unrelenting mix of weak rental construction, raging demand and rising rates. Bidding wars...

The Canadian dollar edged higher against its broadly weaker U.S. counterpart on Monday as investors awaited a Federal Reserve meeting this week, with the loonie adding to last week’s advance.The U.S. dollar fell against a basket of major currencies, while oil , one of Canada’s major exports, was up 0.1...

The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Friday, but was on track to end a volatile week slightly higher as global equity markets rose and a preliminary estimate showed Canadian retail sales recovering in June.The loonie weakened 0.1 per cent to 1.2582 per greenback, or 79.48 U.S....

Statistics Canada says retail sales fell by 2.1 per cent to $53.8-billion in May, as many businesses remained closed during the third wave of COVID-19, but the agency expects to see a return to growth once June numbers are available.Sales decreased in eight of 11 subsectors for May, representing more...

The cost of housing will have a larger influence in how Canada’s main gauge of inflation is tallied, following the home-buying frenzy of the past year and other pandemic-driven shifts in consumption.On Wednesday Statistics Canada unveiled updates to how it weighs the Consumer Price Index, a critical indicator that is...

The European Central Bank pledged on Thursday to keep interest rates at record lows for even longer to boost sluggish inflation and warned that the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus poses a risk to the euro zone’s recovery.The central bank of the 19 countries that share the euro...

The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, giving back some of its gains over the last two days as dovish guidance from the European Central Bank helped to boost the greenback against a basket of major currencies.The Canadian dollar was 0.2 per cent lower at 1.2575...

On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada left its target for the overnight rate at 25 basis points while scaling back its quantitative easing (QE) program, reducing the pace of its purchases of Government of Canada debt from $3-billion a week to $2-billion. Lifting its foot off the QE pedal is...