Bank of Montreal Releases Second Supplementary Prospectus for $50 Billion Bond Program
Economists: Canada's spending remained flat in the fourth quarter and sales may decline in November.
Economist Shelly Kaushik from the Bank of Montreal pointed out that after some strong signs in Canadian retail sales over the past few months, spending in the fourth quarter seems to have stagnated. Sales increased by 0.6% month-on-month in October, but volumes remained essentially unchanged, with Furniture stores and Car Dealers/auto Retailers leading the charge. Early data for November shows nominal sales flat, and Kaushik believes this may indicate a decline in volumes. Kaushik stated that more monthly data would be awaited to see if this marks a longer-term trend, although the upcoming sales tax holiday could add some noise.
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102362254 : The BoC recently cut its interest rate, bringing some relief to borrowers as inflation cools. Big Five are showing mixed earnings, reflecting how the economy is impacting them in different ways. I’ll keep an eye out for Bitcoin-related investment opportunities
Jason Fung : BoC just announced a 0.5% rate cut. This is a prudent move and it would certainly provide some reliefs to our sluggish economy. Canada is a country that relies heavily on immigration to grow its economy. With the new federal government policy to reduce immigrations in the coming years, this would mean less demand for goods and services in our economy which won't help our economy.
It is very likely that a low interest rate is here to stay in the next few years in Canada until our economy recovers and on a growth trajectory again. In my opinion, a low interest rate is generally a good thing for businesses because they can borrow money at a lower cost and invest the money in their businesses. But many of them may not be willing to invest in Canada due to our high tax and regulations. This is an area that the federal government should really look at to create a more friendly environment for business, like in the US.