Last week was a slow one for economic news but we did receive our latest inflation data, for March. Statistics Canada confirmed that overall inflation, as measured by our Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose by 1.3% last month, which was a little less than our 1.4% rate in February but slightly above the 1.2% rate that the consensus had been expecting. The most noteworthy detail in our latest CPI data showed that gasoline prices fell by 13.6% versus where they were last year. We saw price rises in six of the eight major categories that Stats Can tracks, and core inflation, which strips out more volatile CPI inputs like food and energy, rose by 2.1% in March (up from 1.9% in February). When the Bank of Canada (BoC) […]

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Today’s post will be a short and sweet March-break edition. Five-year GoC bond yields rose by twelve basis points last week, closing at 0.81% on Friday. Five-year fixed-rate mortgages are available in the 2.39% to 2.59% range, depending on the terms and conditions that are important to you, and five-year fixed-rate pre-approvals are offered at rates as low as 2.79%. Five-year variable-rate mortgages are available in the prime minus 0.30% to prime minus 0.40% range, which translates into rates of 2.40% to 2.30% using today’s prime rate of 2.70%. The Bottom Line: The Bank of Canada stood pat last week while the European Central Bank adopted several new measures to loosen its monetary policy further. It’s the Fed’s turn this week, and we’ll most likely be reviewing what it had […]

We received the latest U.S. employment data last Friday, and the headline showed that the U.S. economy added an estimated 242,000 new jobs in February. This was well above the 195,000 new jobs that the consensus was expecting, and futures markets responded by raising the odds that the Fed will hike its policy rate later this year. (The odds of the next U.S. Fed hike occurring this November were increased from 45% to 53% on Friday.) As has so often been the case however, a more detailed look at the latest U.S. non-farm payroll report told a different story than the headline. Here are the highlights: I am an independent full-time mortgage broker and industry insider who helps Canadians from coast to coast. If you are purchasing, refinancing […]