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The recent acceleration in the Labour Force Survey measure of wage growth seems to be overstating wage pressures. The other wage indicators, which are normally more reliable, show far lower rates of growth. With labour market slack increasing, it is …
1st February 2024
High interest rates are still feeding through and we expect both GDP and employment to be flat over the next two quarters. As excess supply builds, a fall in inflation to the 2% target will leave scope for the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates sharply, …
31st January 2024
GDP growth set to remain well below potential The monthly GDP data imply that the economy returned to growth in the fourth quarter and the strong handover from December reduces the risk of the economy contracting this quarter, despite the weakness of the …
The outlook for monetary policy all depends on whether the Bank of Canada is willing to act based on where it thinks shelter inflation is heading, rather than its current rate. The Bank’s communications suggest it is starting to move in that direction, …
26th January 2024
This is a special Global Economics Chart Pack that provides clients with key analysis to make sense of the macro and market impact of the disruptions to maritime shipping. The charts in this document come from our brand-new shipping dashboard , which …
25th January 2024
The Bank of Canada’s decision to drop its tightening bias today is the first step toward interest rate cuts, particularly as the Bank also hinted that it may be willing to look through elevated mortgage interest costs and rent inflation. We continue to …
24th January 2024
Bank drops its hiking bias The Bank of Canada’s decision to drop its tightening bias today is the first step toward interest rate cuts. We continue to think that the Bank’s forecasts for the economy are too optimistic, and that inflation will slow faster …
The new cap on international student visas is another reason to expect population growth to slow sharply. That will give the Bank of Canada confidence that CPI rent inflation will ease later this year, providing a clearer path for headline inflation to …
23rd January 2024
There was little for the Bank of Canada to be encouraged by this week, with evidence of a further deterioration in the economy yet little sign of a fall in inflation expectations or downward pressure on core inflation. That puts the Bank in a tricky …
19th January 2024
Retail sales volumes rose strongly last quarter Retail sales were weaker than expected in November, but earlier gains and the strong preliminary estimate for December still suggest that sales volumes grew substantially over the fourth quarter. The latest …
CPI-trim and CPI-median are overstating inflation pressures Economy going from bad to worse Bank to start cutting interest rates in April The acceleration in the CPI-trim and CPI-median measures of core inflation in December suggests the Bank of Canada …
17th January 2024
Lower mortgage rates supporting demand The decline in mortgage rates appears to be supporting demand, with home sales rebounding last month. While prices continued to fall in December, the sales-to-new listing ratio is now pointing to positive house price …
16th January 2024
Core inflation pressures still too strong Although the rise in headline inflation in December was mainly due to gasoline price base effects, the more worrying development is that the CPI-trim and CPI-median core measures both rose by a larger 0.4% m/m. …
The Bank of Canada’s quarterly business and consumer surveys continue to flash warning signs about the outlook for the economy and labour market. The normalisation of inflation expectations remains painfully slow, however, presenting a risk to our view …
15th January 2024
Temporary rebound in sales volumes The rebound in manufacturing sales in November was broad-based but, with new orders dropping back and the manufacturing surveys weakening in December, that strength is unlikely to be sustained. The 1.2% m/m rise in …
The latest Trans Mountain regulatory hearing will determine whether the pipeline expansion is once again delayed. That would weigh further on the outlook for exports, with external demand already very weak. Another year, another year’s delay? Admittedly, …
12th January 2024
Tougher times ahead for exporters Export volumes were little changed in November but the surveys suggest that tougher times lie ahead, with export orders seemingly falling fast in December. The trade surplus halved to $1.6bn in November as exports …
9th January 2024
Conditions in the housing market seem to be improving, with the local real estate board data pointing to a big improvement in the home sales-to-new listing ratio in December. While the unseasonably warm weather may have played a role and house prices …
5th January 2024
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Jump in wage growth a concern for the Bank The unchanged level of employment in December is consistent with the message from the business surveys that labour demand has weakened …
A version of this article appeared in the Globe and Mail on 3 rd January, 2024. Read that version here . The giant leap forward for artificial intelligence has inevitably led to concerns about the potential for mass unemployment. Tripping over …
3rd January 2024
It is no secret that strong immigration is pushing up rents but, as rent growth for new tenancies was little changed last year, this does not fully explain the surge in CPI rent inflation. The CPI measure is picking up unusually large rent increases on …
Canada Chart Pack (Dec. 2023) …
28th December 2023
Data this week showed that the population jumped by 430,000 in the third quarter alone, almost as much as the official full-year permanent resident target of 465,000. Nonetheless, the November CPI data showed a much-needed slowdown in rent inflation, …
22nd December 2023
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Rate cuts approaching The weaker-than-expected monthly GDP figures raise the risk that the economy contracted again this quarter and are another reason to think that the Bank of …
Consumption growth better than feared The strong rise in retail sales volumes in October suggests that consumption growth will accelerate this quarter. That presents an upside risk to our forecast that GDP will edge down again, although we remain …
21st December 2023
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. A temporary step backward The renewed acceleration in core inflation pressures in November was largely due to a jump in travel tour prices, which is likely to be quickly …
19th December 2023
Household net worth fell in the third quarter, although the recent resurgence in bond and equity prices means that should soon be reversed. It is too soon to sound the all-clear for households’ finances, however, given that the debt service ratio is set …
15th December 2023
A weak November but lower mortgage rates ahead November was a weak month all round for housing, with prices falling at a faster pace and starts plunging. Lenders are already cutting mortgage rates in response to the recent drop in bond yields, which could …
A third consecutive decline in sales volumes The slump in manufacturing sales volumes in October suggests that there are downside risks to the flash estimate that GDP rose by 0.2% m/m at the start of the fourth quarter. The 2.8% m/m decline in …
14th December 2023
The Bank of Canada this week reiterated that strong immigration is putting upward pressure on inflation because housing supply is failing to keep up. Yet the Bank surely can’t be oblivious to the negative impact of high interest rates on construction. …
8th December 2023
Overview – Further declines in GDP in the coming quarters mean that the economy is unlikely to grow at all next year. Weak growth and a return in inflation to the 2% target will leave scope for the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates sharply, with the …
7th December 2023
The Bank of Canada is clinging on to the idea that restrictive policy is still needed to get inflation back to 2%. Nonetheless, with core inflation pressures muted, GDP and house prices falling, and labour market conditions loosening rapidly, it won’t be …
6th December 2023
Bank maintains tightening bias, but next move likely to be a cut The policy statement from the Bank of Canada was a bit more hawkish than we expected, with the Bank reiterating that it is still concerned about the outlook for inflation and “remains …
Slump in imports only partly due to UAW strike The slump in import volumes in October was partly due to the knock-on effects of the UAW strike in the US, but it also suggests that firms are now drawing down their inventories as demand weakens. That raises …
The revisions to the national accounts leave the post-pandemic recovery looking stronger than we thought. But that is partly due to intense inventory building, which leaves the economy vulnerable to a period of destocking now that demand is weakening. …
1st December 2023
Labour market conditions loosening The labour market is weaker than the 24,900 rise in employment might suggest, with the unemployment rate rising again and hours worked slumping by 0.7% m/m last month. The fall in hours worked means that the preliminary …
GDP contracted in the third quarter and there are downside risks to the outlook. As house prices are falling again, household debt is elevated and high interest rates are still feeding through, the key risk is that the mild recession we forecast could …
30th November 2023
In this Global Economics Update , we describe eight of the biggest risks to our economic forecasts for 2024. The unusual nature of this cycle and uncertainties surrounding the transmission of monetary policy mean that the biggest risks relate to central …
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. A bumpy landing so far, but recession risks remain On the face of it, the upward revision to second-quarter GDP growth combined with the preliminary estimate of a strong monthly …
Economic growth and inflation both weaker than Bank expected Bank likely to tone down, or even drop, its tightening bias Policy rate to be cut by much more than markets expect in 2024 The second consecutive month of muted core inflation pressures in …
29th November 2023
It would be a stretch to say the government showed fiscal restraint in the Fall Economic Statement , but the announcement of only a few billion dollars in extra spending measures means that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland did not pour much more fuel on …
24th November 2023
Retail sales perk up after weak Q3 The renewed rise in retail sales volumes in September was not enough to prevent a large contraction in sales volumes over the third quarter. The balance of risks is probably now skewed to the downside surrounding our …
Faced with much higher interest costs, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland outlined very little in the way of new spending measures in the Fall Economic Statement today. Most of the focus was on non-monetary housing-related policies that will have little …
21st November 2023
This page has been updated with additional analysis since first publication. Core inflation pressures muted There was good news all round in the October CPI report, with the overall CPI falling in month-on-month seasonally adjusted terms for the first …
For the first time since the pandemic, the government will find itself with less fiscal room than expected when it provides an update of its plans next week. Accordingly, we doubt that the Fall Economic Statement will contain any major giveaways. Gloomy …
17th November 2023
House price declines likely to worsen The fall in new listings in October may ease some concerns about forced home sales but, with the sales-to-new listing ratio declining again, it is still likely that the pace of house price declines will accelerate. …
16th November 2023
During the past decade, the global economy has transitioned out of an era in which globalisation was the key driver of economic and financial relationships into one shaped by geopolitics. Previously, most governments had believed that closer economic …
Manufacturing and wholesale trade GDP broadly unchanged in September The slightly better-than-expected gains in manufacturing and wholesale sales in September do not change the big picture that GDP in each sector was probably largely unchanged, supporting …
15th November 2023
The Bank of Canada’s latest Summary of Deliberations was more hawkish than most probably expected, with some members of the Governing Council still seemingly arguing for further rate hikes. That said, the weak GDP data released since the Bank’s last …
10th November 2023
Surplus boosted by temporary surge in oil prices The September trade data look encouraging at first glance, with the merchandise trade surplus widening to $2.0bn, from $1.0bn, but the 2.7% m/m increase in export values was mostly due to higher oil prices. …
7th November 2023
