General Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 16 Apr
Federal Budget Targets Rich Canadians For New Spending The budget focuses on helping Millennial and Gen Z voters experiencing rising housing costs and other inflationary pressures. The government has set fiscal anchors, such as keeping the deficit below 1% of GDP starting in 2027. The Canadian federal government released its 2023 budget over a year […]
Read MoreGeneral Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 16 Apr
Great News On The Inflation Front The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.9% year-over-year in March, as expected, up a tick from the February pace owing to a rise in gasoline prices, as prices at the pump rose faster in March compared with February. Excluding gasoline, the all-items CPI slowed to a 2.8% year-over-year increase, […]
Read MoreGeneral Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 12 Apr
Recent Signs Show Housing Activity Will Strengthen Meaningfully In April The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) announced today that national home sales for March were roughly flat, while new listings fell and prices stagnated. CREA analysts are confident that recent activity will harken stronger housing markets for the rest of this year. There is significant pent-up […]
Read MoreGeneral Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 19 Mar
Great News On The Inflation Front The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.8% year-over-year in February, down from the 2.9% January pace and much slower than the 3.1% expected rate. Gasoline prices rose in Canada for the first time in five months, which led many analysts to forecast a rise in February inflation as seen […]
Read MoreGeneral Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 6 Mar
The Bank of Canada Holds Rates Steady Until Core Inflation Falls Further Today, the Bank of Canada held the overnight rate at 5% for the fifth consecutive meeting and pledged to continue normalizing the Bank’s balance sheet. Policymakers remain concerned about risks to the outlook for inflation. The latest data show that CPI inflation fell […]
Read MoreLatest News Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 29 Feb
Still No Recession In Canada Thanks to Huge Influx of Immigrants Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose a moderate 1.0% (seasonally adjusted annual rate), a tad better than expected and the Q3 contraction of -1.2% was revised to -0.5%. This leaves growth for 2023 at a moderate 1.1%. Monthly data, also released today by Statistics […]
Read MoreLatest News Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 30 Nov
Canada’s GDP sinks in third quarter of 2023 The Canadian economy contracted by 1.06% quarter/quarter annualized (q/q) in 2023 Q3, while Q2 was revised higher (+1.4% q/q from -0.2%). Furthermore, the flash estimate for October showed a +0.2% monthly increase. Stripping out external factors, final domestic demand came in at a robust 1.3% q/q, right […]
Read MoreGeneral Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 21 Nov
Good News On the Inflation Front Suggests Policy Rates Have Peaked Today’s inflation report showed a continued improvement, mainly due to falling year-over-year (y/y) gasoline prices. The October Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.1% y/y, down from the 3.8% rise in September. There were no surprises here, so markets moved little on the news. Excluding […]
Read MoreGeneral Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 25 Oct
Hawkish Hold By The Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at 5%, as was widely expected. The central bank continues to normalize its balance sheet through quantitative tightening, reducing its Government of Canada bonds holdings. The Monetary Policy Report (MPR) detailed a slowdown in global economic growth […]
Read MoreGeneral Wing Kei (Winson) Lam 18 Oct
Housing starts trend upward in September Ottawa, October 18, 2023 The trend in housing starts was higher in September at 254,006 units, up 3.9% from 244,511 units in August, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of total housing starts for […]
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