Bank of Canada Holds Policy Rate Steady Today, the Bank of Canada held the policy rate steady at 2.25%. This is the bottom of the Bank’s estimate of the neutral overnight rate, where monetary policy is neither expansionary nor contractionary. With inflation hovering just above 2% and core inflation between 2.5% and 3%, the Governing […]

Canadian headline inflation slowed to 2.2% y/y in October, down from 2.4% in September. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.2% on a year-over-year basis in October, down from 2.4% in September. The all-items CPI decelerated largely due to gasoline prices, which fell at a faster year-over-year pace in October (-9.4%) than in September (-4.1%). Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 2.6% in […]

Signs of Improvement in Canadian Housing Activity Today’s release of October housing data by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) showed the national housing market bounced back, with sales and prices rising. Buyers benefited from the interest rate cuts this year. The number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems edged up 0.9% on […]

Forget A December BoC Rate Cut: October Labour Force Survey Much Stronger Than Expected Today’s Labour Force Survey for October showed a stronger-than-expected net employment gain of 66,600, on the heels of September’s upside surprise. Cumulative gains in September and October (+127,000; +0.6%) have offset cumulative declines observed in July and August (-106,000; -0.5%). Even more unexpected […]

Federal Budget Revamp, FY 2025-2026 Today, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne presented his first budget. Mark Carney was elected Prime Minister with a mandate to transform Canada’s economy and reduce its dependence on trade with the United States. The Carney government’s inaugural budget emphasizes structural changes to strengthen the domestic economy and boost non-U.S. exports, and […]

Federal Budget Revamp, FY 2025-2026 Today, the Bank of Canada lowered the overnight policy rate by 25 bps to 2.25% as was widely expected. This is the bottom of the Bank’s estimate of the neutral overnight rate, where monetary policy is neither expansionary nor contractionary. The economy will grow at about a 0.5% pace in […]

Bank of Canada Lowers Policy Rate to 2.25% Today, the Bank of Canada lowered the overnight policy rate by 25 bps to 2.25% as was widely expected. This is the bottom of the Bank’s estimate of the neutral overnight rate, where monetary policy is neither expansionary nor contractionary. The economy will grow at about a […]

Canadian Inflation Stronger Than Expected The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.4% on a year-over-year basis in September, up from a 1.9% increase in August. The acceleration in headline inflation from 1.9% in August was also larger than the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists, which was 2.2%. On a year-over-year basis, gasoline […]

Canadian Employment Rises More Than Expected, But Not Enough To Fully Offset Prior Two-Month Job Loss Today’s Labour Force Survey for September was stronger than expected, with a net employment gain of 60,400, but the unemployment rate was steady at 7.1% as more people entered the workforce. The employment gain was driven by full-time work. […]