Last week marked the beginning of an unprecedented one-year program through which the Bank of Canada is purchasing corporate bonds. The program, originally announced on April 15, aims to support the corporate debt market’s liquidity and “proper functioning.” It involves TD Asset Management purchasing bonds through a tender process on the secondary market on behalf […]
Canada’s inflation rate turned negative in April as the economy came to a standstill in the first full month of the pandemic as part of a spending shift that a top central banker says may signal further changes in consumption patterns post-COVID-19. Statistics Canada said Wednesday the consumer price index for April fell 0.2 per […]
Financial markets are showing signs of concern about how well companies can weather the coronavirus economic crisis, the Bank of Canada said in a report outlining issues the pandemic is having on business and household debt. The central bank has spent the last two months making a flurry of policy decisions that include slashing the […]
Tiff Macklem, a former second-in-command at the Bank of Canada, is returning to the central bank to take over the top job at a moment that he says cries out for bold, unprecedented responses to the economic crisis fuelled by the coronavirus. And he suggested that once the current crisis passes, a key focus for […]
Since the last financial crisis in 2008-09, the shadow banking sector in Canada has been growing at a rapid pace, which can pose challenges in the current coronavirus crisis, according to a report by DBRS Morningstar. Shadow banking refers to non-bank financial institutions that provide credit and related financial intermediation that aren’t prudentially regulated. A […]
The governor of the Bank of Canada says the central bank would have likely slashed its key interest rate in response to plunging oil prices, if that alone had been the only shock to the domestic economy. The cut might even have been to the current 0.25 per cent level it reached as the COVID-19 […]
The Bank of Canada is warning that the downturn tied to COVID-19 will be the worst on record and that the economic recovery will depend on the effectiveness of current measures to bring the pandemic under control. The pandemic has forced companies to close and workers to stay at home as much as possible in […]
The Bank of Canada cut its key interest target by half a percentage point to 0.25 per cent in an unscheduled rate announcement Friday. The central bank said its decision to lower rates is aimed at cushioning the economic shocks from COVID-19 and a sharp drop in oil prices by easing the cost of borrowing. […]
The Bank of Canada is cutting its overnight rate target by half a percentage point to 0.75 per cent in response to COVID-19. The central bank said Friday the unscheduled rate decision was due to the pandemic and its impact on the economy, adding that lower oil prices, even since its last scheduled rate decision […]
There has been a lot of buzz about negative interest rates lately, as the idea that you would have to pay governments to borrow your money seems to turn the very foundation of finance on its head. But that is exactly what is happening right now for trillions of dollars in the world’s bond markets. […]