News

GDP gains. Economic growth in Canada was positive in December at 0.3%, beating 0.1% in the previous month and above expectations of the same amount. This was the strongest pace since May as growth was seen in both the services and manufacturing sectors led by transportation and warehousing (+1.5%) and [...]

What’s happening? The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) is a human tragedy for all those affected. Recent heightened concerns are spilling over into global economic and capital market concerns – causing sharp drops in market values and an increase in volatility.Capital market investors are facing the difficult task of incorporating a [...]

The current economic slowdown should come to an end in 2020. The global economy is showing signs (the so-called ‘green shoots’) that growth in 2020 should pick-up modestly, aided by a détente in global trade frictions and stimulative central bank policies. We see an economic environment where corporate earnings growth [...]

Is November’s stock market optimism more than just dancing sugar-plum dreams? As fears of an economic recession continued to fade away, equities shook off past pessimism and got into the holiday spirit. Equities marched higher, capping off a solid month of gains, while bond yields continued to curb their enthusiasm [...]

The S&P/TSX Composite closed on a down note for November but still managed to reach new highs during the month. With economic data at home muted, the driver for the rise in the TSX was optimism by investors that the U.S. and China will come to a mutual agreement for [...]

The S&P/TSX Composite ended the month on a down note as China’s economic data reports revived worries of growth concerns. Also impacting Canada’s main stock exchange, as well as those south of the border, were doubts by Chinese officials on the long-term nature of any trade deals with the U.S. [...]

Talk about a see-saw ride: Stocks were up and bonds were down in July. Then, stocks were down and bonds were up in August, followed by yet another reversal with stocks going up and bonds going down in September. With each pendulum swing similar themes set the backdrop: the U.S.-China [...]

The big story for capital markets was the continuing collapse of bond yields amid ongoing trade threats and attention-seeking tweets from the U.S. President. The 30-year U.S. Treasury Bond yield fell below 2% for the first time in history – a headline that raised concern about economic recession on the [...]

The number of home groundbreakings rose sharply in June on a seasonally adjusted basis. For the month, 245,657 units were started, a 26% increase, and comfortably above market expectations of 210,000 units. This was the highest since November 2017, with multi-family buildings rocketing 31% and single-detached homes rising 8% as [...]

The global economy has been slowing for a year marking the third global slowdown of the past 10 years. Trade frictions have exacerbated the slowdown and remain an unpredictable cloud dimming future growth expectations. This makes the question of whether we’re closer to the end or the beginning of the [...]