Commentaries

Insights, charts, and tables on key data releases and their implications for Canadian business.

Showing 6 out of 32
commentaries

Mar 21, 2023

February 2023 Consumer Price Index: Inflation continues to cool, mainly due to base-year effects

Canada’s headline inflation cooled more than expected in February to 5.2% year-over-year (more than market expectations of 5.4%), with core inflation also slowing to 4.9%.
commentaries

Mar 10, 2023

Canada’s job market continues to outperform expectations in February.

Amid high interest rates and slowing economic growth, February’s jobs report shows there’s still plenty of steam left in the engine for Canada’s labour market.
commentaries

Mar 08, 2023

The Bank of Canada becomes the first major central bank to pause interest rates hikes… but for how long?

After one year of aggressively raising interest rates by a total of 4.25%, the Bank of Canada today held its policy rate steady — officially following through on the “conditional pause” in its tightening cycle.
commentaries

Mar 01, 2023

February 2023 Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMIs): Canadian manufacturers continue to recover

The good news continues for Canada’s manufacturing sector, as the PMI topped the 50-mark for the second straight month. The increase to 52.4 in February was the highest reading since July. The sector looks to be improving, as supply chains stabilize and inflation pressures ease. Growth in new orders is also welcome news and signals a decent start to the year.
commentaries

Feb 28, 2023

Canadian GDP 2022 Q4: A GDP miss will raise recession fears

The flat GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2022 is worse than expected, and will have forecasters looking closer to time the start of a potential recession in Canada. The signals from the monthly data point to a strong showing in January, but make no mistake, the economy’s fundamentals are weakening and momentum is slowing as higher interest rates are beginning to bite.
commentaries

Feb 27, 2023

2023 Q1 Canadian Survey on Business Conditions: Cost Problems Persist

The latest Canadian Survey on Business Conditions shows that companies continue to struggle with rising costs. Even as headline inflation slows, the share of businesses expecting to raise prices next quarter held steady at one third — a stat that may worry the Bank of Canada.

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