The latest retail sales report showed the impact of high inflation, but also the willingness of Canadian consumers to keep on spending. The value of retail sales rose 2.2 per cent in May, with broad-based gains in 8-of-11 major subsectors. In… Read More ›
Canadian Inflation
E-Sight July 20: Canadian Inflation Climbs Above 8%
Canadian inflation climbed above 8% in June, but the 8.1% headline was slightly below market expectations for an 8.4% reading. Gasoline was the single greatest contributor to the acceleration, increasing 6.2% in the month and up a whopping 54.6% year-over-year…. Read More ›
E-Sight Weekly: E-Sight July 20: Bank of Canada Spikes Rates, Housing Contraction Begins, Watch for Inflation above 8% this Week
As discussed in two E-sights last week, the Bank of Canada delivered a surprise one full percentage point interest rate hike, lifting the overnight rate to 2.50 per cent and signaling more to come. The Bank’s aggressive tightening has inverted… Read More ›
E-Sight July 13: A Deeper Dive into BoC Decision for a Big, Bold Hike
As promised from my last note, this is commentary is add-on from my initial take. No real changes, just interesting observations from MPR. The Bank of Canada surprised markets by delivering a one percentage point increase in the overnight rate… Read More ›
E-Sight July 13: The Bank of Canada Hikes a Full Percentage Point in July to Battle Inflation and Re-Anchor Inflation Expectations
This is a quick commentary after the press release of the Bank of Canada’s rate decision came across the news wires. Further analysis will come after the press conference if warranted, but here is a quick take, because I am getting… Read More ›
E-Sight July 11: Waiting on Macklem
All eyes are on this Wednesday’s Bank of Canada’s interest rate announcement. Financial markets have priced in a 75 basis point increase in the benchmark overnight rate, matching the last move by the US Federal Reserve as both central banks… Read More ›
E-sight Weekly June 27: Understanding the Inflation Shock
The main economic release last week was the Canadian Price Index for May, which showed Canadian inflation rose to 7.7 per cent, the fastest pace since 1983. The biggest contributors were gasoline, hotels, restaurants, food prices, shelter main contributors. Gasoline was a… Read More ›
E-Sight Weekly June 6: Canadian GDP and Bank of Canada Policy Tightening
Last week had a very heavy economic calendar, with the Bank of Canada policy announcement and real GDP for the first quarter being the main events. The key takeaways are that while the Canadian economy had good momentum early this year,… Read More ›
E-Sight Weekly November 1: Growth, Inflation and Labour Shortages
The Bank of Canada’s monetary policy announcement was the main event last week, which I already covered in a commentary, so I won’t go into a lot of details. The Bank announced an end of its Quantitative Easing (QE) program,… Read More ›
E-Sight October 27: Bank of Canada ends quantitative easing helping to anchor inflation expectations
In a keenly awaited policy statement, the Bank of Canada announced that while it was leaving the overnight rate unchanged at 0.50% it was ending its quantitative easing program. The bond buying will continue, but only reinvesting maturing bonds. The Bank’s… Read More ›