A record-breaking 88% of Canadian CEOs are optimistic about their companies’ prospects for revenue growth, and 72% believe global economic growth will improve over the next 12 months, finds PwC’s CEO survey. Despite NAFTA concerns, 88% of Canadian CEOs say they still consider the U.S. a top choice for growth, followed by China (53%), the […]
The European Commission says the recovery across the 19-country eurozone is set to remain fairly buoyant this year. In its latest forecast, the European Union’s executive arm said it expects 2018 growth to be 2.3%, just shy of the 2.4% rate it is predicting for 2017—preliminary figures last week from the EU’s statistics agency showed […]
The Canadian city with the largest economic upswing in 2017 was Hamilton, Ont., finds National Bank’s metropolitan economic momentum index (MEMI). The MEMI gauges economic growth in census metropolitan areas, with an emphasis on their fiscal capacity. Hamilton’s MEMI rose 5.1% on a year-over-year basis in Q4, buoyed by employment gains and non-residential construction. Read: […]
The Federal Reserve has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged but signalled that it expects to resume raising rates gradually to reflect a healthy job market and economy. At Janet Yellen’s final meeting as chair Wednesday, the Fed kept its key short-term rate in a still-low range of 1.25% to 1.5%. Yellen led a cautious […]
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.4% in November, says StatsCan, with growth reported in 17 of 20 industrial sectors. Read: Economic growth will mean higher LTD claims: report The finance and insurance sector grew 0.3% in November, after four consecutive months of decline. Financial investment services, funds and other financial vehicles were up 0.5%, […]
Fixed income investors might be taken by surprise if inflation rears its head this year. That’s because an Invesco study finds that 58% of fixed income investors interviewed aren’t concerned about rising inflation. Although most believe the global economy is on the path to recovery (again, 58%), those interviewed say the recovery isn’t via the […]
The International Monetary Fund is raising its estimate for economic growth in Canada this year. The international organization says it now projects Canada’s economy will grow 2.3% this year, up from an estimate of 2.1% in October. Growth for 2019 is forecast at 2%, up from an earlier projection for 1.7%. In its January monetary […]
Update on Jan. 22, 2018, at 2 p.m.: A Senate agreement has reopened the U.S. federal government. The U.S. government has been shut down since midnight on Friday—and that could negatively affect growth in Q1, says TD senior economist Leslie Preston in a weekly economics report. The last 16-day shutdown lowered real GDP by 0.3 […]
The Bank of Canada (BoC) today raised its target for the overnight rate to 1.25%, an increase of a quarter of a percentage point. The bank rate is correspondingly 1.50%, and the deposit rate is 1.00%. The change is expected to prompt Canada’s large banks to raise their prime lending rates, a move that will […]
What to expect for growth and interest rates between now and 2019