Canada Economics Weekly Tweaking US trade deficits no concern to Canada The potential changes to US trade balance statistics being considered by the US administration has raised eyebrows in Canada. But no matter how Trump’s administration wants to tweak the data, the US... 24th February 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Move-up buyers inflating housing bubble Toronto’s growing housing bubble is being blamed on desperate first-time buyers chasing a dwindling inventory of homes for sale, but that’s a red herring. The truth is that it’s mainly being driven by... 17th February 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Housing imbalances worsening While the housing investment boom helped support the economy through the oil shock last year, the further deterioration in housing affordability will likely cost the economy in the longer run. The... 10th February 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly GDP prospects improve, despite trade policy uncertainty Incoming data indicate that the economy has emerged from the oil price shock, with encouraging signs in business confidence pointing to faster economic growth over the next six months. As things stand... 3rd February 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly NAFTA on the brink Canada has a strong hand to play in the upcoming negotiations over the NAFTA agreement. With Canadian-US trade broadly balanced and the US reliant on Canadian energy exports, we suspect that the Trump... 27th January 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Bank of Canada focused on US rather than domestic risks Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz surprised the markets last week with his admission that an interest rate cut was still “on the table” if one of the Bank’s downside risks became reality. The... 20th January 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Canadian dollar being buffeted by opposing forces With commodity prices and interest rate differentials pulling the Canadian dollar in different directions again this year, our baseline scenario is that it will remain broadly unchanged, increasing... 13th January 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Economic growth misfiring again Even allowing for the rebound in real exports in November, the 0.3% m/m decline in monthly GDP in October means that fourth-quarter GDP growth was probably 1.0% annualised or less, putting it well... 6th January 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Labour market slack increasing Nowhere is the lingering damage to the economy caused by the commodity price slump more evident than in the labour market. Unemployment is still rising sharply in the worst-affected regions, while... 22nd December 2016 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Bank of Canada downplaying housing risks While it continues to warn about growing housing imbalances and risky mortgage lending, the Bank of Canada still believes there is only a low probability of a major housing correction happening... 16th December 2016 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Service sector growth to slow next year Despite the fallout from the slump in oil-related business investment, the service sector enjoyed relatively strong growth over the past two years, mainly because of an acceleration in housing... 9th December 2016 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly The other shoe just dropped The rebound in third-quarter GDP mainly reflects volatility in energy production rather than any fundamental improvement in the economy. Excluding energy, GDP has been growing at less than 1%... 2nd December 2016 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Corporate profits still point to sluggish economy The latest corporate profit figures show that, despite the energy-related rebound in the third-quarter, the economy isn’t out of the woods yet. While higher oil prices in the short term will help the... 25th November 2016 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Tighter financial conditions may prompt rate cut Although the Canadian dollar has weakened further lately, financial conditions overall appear to be tightening now because of rising market interest rates and new stricter mortgage rules. Given the... 18th November 2016 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Trump win could still be bad for Canada The rebound in financial markets following Donald Trump’s conciliatory acceptance speech is a positive sign for Canada’s economy. But his personal volatility and still potentially harsh views on trade... 11th November 2016 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Infrastructure bank will only create more bureaucracy The Liberal government’s plan to create a national infrastructure bank is a recipe for greater bureaucracy rather than a remedy for improving longer-term economic prospects. Existing public agencies... 4th November 2016 · 1 min read
