Economy

Canadian dollar retreats from 3-week high as factory sales fall

Published

4 years ago

April 16, 2021

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO (Reuters) -The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday as domestic data showed a bigger-than-expected drop in factory sales and investors weighed restrictions on the economy, with the loonie pulling back from an earlier three-week high.

The loonie was trading 0.2% lower at 1.2543 to the greenback, or 79.73 U.S. cents, the weakest performance among G10 currencies. It touched its strongest intraday level since March 22 at 1.2476.

The manufacturing data “may have just helped USD-CAD avoid going sub-1.25 and staying there for the remainder of the session,” said Amo Sahota, director at Klarity FX in San Francisco.

Canadian manufacturing sales decreased 1.6% in February from January, compared with expectations for a 1% decline, amid a shortage of semiconductors that has stalled production at some auto plants, Statistics Canada said.

Lockdowns in some provinces to contain the coronavirus pandemic could also be weighing on the loonied, but it is likely a pause in momentum before the currency takes another leg higher, Sahota said.

Canada is battling a third wave of the virus. Last Thursday, Ontario, Canada‘s most populous province, began a four-week stay-at-home order.

Analysts expect the loonie, which has gained 1.5% since the beginning of the year, to benefit from a potential reduction by the Bank of Canada of its bond purchases, a Reuters poll showed this month.

The central bank, which is due to make an interest rate decision next week, has become increasingly concerned in recent months that housing gains are being driven by excessive exuberance.

A measure of home prices rose 20.1% year-over-year in March, the Canadian Real Estate Association said.

Canadian government bond yields fell across a flatter curve, tracking U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year touched its lowest since March 11 at 1.434% before rebounding to 1.469%, down 5.9 basis points on the day.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Economy

PBO projects deficit exceeded Liberals’ $40B pledge, economy to rebound in 2025

Published

7 hours ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.

However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.

The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.

The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.

The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says levels of food insecurity rose in 2022

Published

1 day ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.

In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.

The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.

Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.

In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $69.4B in August

Published

1 day ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.

The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.

The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.

Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.

Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.

Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

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