(Bloomberg) — Canada’s economy and financial markets are moving in opposite directions as investors drive up asset prices in response to cheap-money policies. That trend will continue in the months ahead, according to Manulife’s Frances Donald.
The country is grappling with a fresh set of lockdowns as governments try to quell a wave of Covid-19 infections. Quebec, the second-largest provincial economy, is likely to unveil new restrictions Wednesday that will shut down the construction sector. Less than 1% of the population has been vaccinated so far, putting Canada behind the U.S. and U.K.
Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX Composite Index is near a record after rising about 8% in three months. Economically-sensitive energy and industrial stocks have surged, while bank shares are up 14% since Oct 5.
While vaccines have arrived, “the economic benefits are probably not solved before the second half of the year,” Donald, global chief economist and head of macro strategy at Manulife Investment Management, said by phone. “In 2021, my suspicion is the disconnect between the economy and markets continues.”
Economists are still predicting a strong recovery in the second half of the year, as vaccines allow for a rebound in travel, entertainment and other sectors that have been crushed by the pandemic. Even so, Donald doesn’t see a full recovery until 2022. That’s because there will be structural scarring to the economy from business closures, job losses and new ways of working.
“When we have a shock to the labor market it can take a decade to heal itself,” she said. “While Canada has fared better on most every account relative to the U.S., in large part because of huge amounts of stimulus, we’re not going to come out of this completely unscathed.”
‘Numb’ to Data
That stimulus includes hundreds of billions in fiscal measures by Justin Trudeau’s government and accommodative policy by the Bank of Canada, which, like other central banks, has cut interest rates to historic lows.
It’s a global phenomenon that has pushed up the price of unconventional assets like Bitcoin.
“What you’re seeing in crypto right now is growing concern we have excessive monetary policy at play,” Donald said. “It’s likely we continue to see too much cash flow into places we haven’t seen before.”
Read more: Bitcoin Tops $35,000 for Fresh Record as Wild Swings Resume
Investors are becoming “more numb” to official statistics including inflation and payrolls and are focusing instead on economic data that can be measured with less lag time, such as restaurant bookings and airport security checkpoints, Donald said.
“Much of 2020 was spent recognizing traditional data were too lagged and too distorted to be valuable,” she said. “So in come new unconventional data points that showed us there were faster and more efficient ways to see where the economy was in its rebound.”
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.
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.
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.
