Over the last two years, the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve have taken drastic steps to cool inflation. While unprecedented interest rate hikes have taken a toll on the Canadian economy, the U.S. economy is booming. We can see this playing out with the divergence between the Canadian dollar and the U.S. […]
Category Archives: Blog
It looks like the Bank of Canada will get what it wanted, a soft economic landing, in which growth has slowed considerably but avoided a recession. In less than two years, the Bank of Canada raised interest rates 10 times, from near zero to 5%. In June 2022, Canadian inflation hit its highest level in […]
Canada’s inflation rate continues to surprise to the downside. After unexpectedly cooling to 2.9% in January, economists expected the headline inflation rate to rise to 3.1% in February. That didn’t happen. Instead, Canada’s inflation rate cooled to 2.8%. Mortgage and rent interest costs were the biggest driver of the inflation rate. After a 4% decline […]
Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy increased by 1% in the fourth quarter. This followed a decline of 0.5% in the third quarter. The fourth quarter increase in gross domestic product (GDP) means that the Canadian economy avoided a recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. How Is the Canadian Economy […]
With a market capitalization of $3.5 trillion and 3,502 listed companies, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is the largest exchange in Canada. It’s also the third largest in North America and the nineth largest in the world. Unfortunately, the TSX has been underperforming its American counterparts by a wide margin over the last decade. The […]
Canada’s inflation rate unexpectedly slipped below 3% in January, into the Bank of Canada’s target range of 2% to 3%. There’s still work to do if the central bank wants to get inflation down to 2%, but to do so, it may need to keep interest rates higher for longer. That would be bad news […]
The Bank of Canada delivered a pleasant surprise when it announced that the country’s inflation rate slowed more than expected in January to 2.9%. That’s down sharply from 3.4% in December and is lower than the 3.3% reading economists were looking for and the 3.2% mark forecast by the Bank of Canada. Of particular note, […]
The TSX, Canada’s main stock market index, is made up of some of the largest companies in the country, so it’s natural to expect the performance of the TSX to track Canada’s economic growth. That’s why investors pay close attention to economic gages like gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, employment levels, consumer spending, and the […]
The year 2023 defied expectations for Bay Street and Wall Street. Despite stubbornly high inflation and decades-high interest rates, the U.S. stock market closed out the year with one of its best performances. The S&P 500 advanced 24%, its longest winning streak since 2004, while the Nasdaq soared more than 43%, its highest annual gain […]
Between January 1 and October 31, 2023, the TSX lost 3.3% of its value. But from November 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024, the TSX has rallied an impressive 12.2%. And the long-term outlook for the TSX remains bullish. But investors may be getting ahead of themselves. Why Is the TSX Doing So Well? On […]
