US Housing Market Data Response Case-Shiller House Prices (May) The fourth successive rise in the Case-Shiller measure of seasonally-adjusted house prices means that prices are experiencing more than just their usual seasonal lift. Moreover, tight supply... 31st July 2012 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response GDP by Industry (May) The modest 0.1% m/m increase in Canada's monthly GDP in May supports our existing estimate that the economy expanded at a disappointing 1.7% annualised pace in the second quarter. That would mark the... 31st July 2012 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Focus Business investment won't be the economy's saviour With exports hampered by the global economic slowdown and the nascent domestic housing downturn likely to hit housing investment and consumption too, a slowdown in Canada's overall economic growth... 31st July 2012 · 1 min read
US Economics Update The economy does not have a “stall speed” The economy does not have a “stall speed” of between 1.5% and 2.0% that means whenever growth falls below this rate a recession is imminent. This is especially the case when the economy current has so... 31st July 2012 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Rising dollar another drag on growth The recent increase in the dollar, to close to a two-year high against the euro, represents another headwind for US exporters when they already have to contend with the easing in demand in Europe and... 27th July 2012 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Are consumers retreating? Our measure of Canada's 'effective' crude oil price, a blend of three key benchmarks, has rebounded by a sharp 25% over the past few weeks, to US$88 p/b from US$70 p/b. But this rally in crude oil... 27th July 2012 · 1 min read
US Data Response GDP (Q2 1st Estimate) The 1.5% annualised rise in GDP in the second quarter shows that the economy has lost a fair amount of momentum this year. Nonetheless, the recent run of data probably hasn’t been quite weak enough to... 27th July 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Homeownership & Vacancy Rates (Q2 12) The very modest increase in the homeownership rate in Q2 does not persuade us to alter our view that the share of the population who own their home will fall further over the next couple of years... 27th July 2012 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Update Labour market improvement unlikely to be sustained Labour market conditions have steadily improved since the economic recovery took hold in mid-2009. This improvement, however, is partly due to a sharp rebound in construction activity. Although... 27th July 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Are lower mortgage rates supporting housing demand? News of mortgage rates falling to fresh lows may have become an almost weekly occurrence, but there’s relatively little evidence that this is translating into stronger housing demand among mortgage... 26th July 2012 · 1 min read
US Employment Report Preview Some signs of progress Our econometric model suggests that non-farm payroll employment increased by around 100,000 in July, which would be slightly better than the 80,000 gain in June. This would still mean that employment... 26th July 2012 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (May) May's payroll survey data, which showed solid gains in average weekly earnings and employment, indicate that second-quarter wages and salaries increased by close to 7.0% annualised, more than double... 26th July 2012 · 1 min read
US Data Response Durable Goods Orders (Jun.) June’s durable goods orders figures provide a upside risk to our forecast that GDP grew at an annualised rate of 1.5% in the second quarter, but not one large enough to warrant changing the forecast... 26th July 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response New Home Sales (Jun.) The 8.4% m/m fall in new home sales in June was further evidence that the recovery in housing demand has lost a little momentum. But with supply conditions in the market for new homes still tight... 25th July 2012 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Update Is the housing market enjoying a soft landing? Housing activity is cooling and if this trend continues, as we expect, the typical lag times between activity and prices suggest that house prices might begin to decline outright next year. Given the... 25th July 2012 · 1 min read
US Fed Watch Economy not weak enough to trigger QE3 next week As it stands at the moment, the incoming news has probably not been quite weak enough to prompt the Fed into providing more policy stimulus, such as a third round of asset purchases (QE3), at the... 25th July 2012 · 1 min read
