The National Bank of Canada

The Greenback Continues to ClimbOn Monday, the loonie pulled back slightly because of weak crude oil prices and disappointing Chinese economic data. Chinese manufacturing activity figures, as measured...

All Eyes on the Fed at 2 p.mMarkets are definitely eager to learn whether the Fed continues to think that it will be able to raise its key rate before the end of the year, which is now considered only...

Slowdowns in the U.S. and the U.K.Yesterday, we learned that New Home Sales south of the border had slowed in September, bringing the annual average to 468,000, or below the forecast of 550,000. This...

Key Rate Decision in CanadaToday, we will be essentially focusing on the Bank of Canada’s Governor Stephen Poloz, who will announce at 10 a.m. the Bank’s key rate decision. Markets are not...

Liberal majority governmentThe Conservative Party led by Stephen Harper have failed in their bid to win on an early election call. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals at last count had 184 seats and...

The Weekly Economic Watch offers a commentary on developments in the economic environment as depicted by economic indicators released during the week and on indicators to be published in the upcoming...

After a five-week period of consolidation, energy prices finally broke through the upper bound of their trading range. Oil left a range of US$43 to US$48, even rising close to US$51/barrel. The price...

The FOMC’s meeting minutes, released last week, contained more information on the Federal Reserve’s inaction in September. To no one’s surprise, the Fed’s decision to delay...

Energy prices moved in a narrow range again last week, with returns on WTI, Brent and diesel of 0.5%, -0.5% and 0.2%, respectively. For a fifth consecutive week, WTI fluctuated within a range from...

Yesterday was a particularly trying day on stock markets, with the S&P 500, NASDAQ and S&P/TSX Composite down by 2.6%, 3.0% and 2.8% respectively. Fears of a slowing economy in China and the...

On Thursday the curtain finally rose on this keenly-anticipated decision. As predicted by most observers, the Fed made no changes to monetary policy, maintaining its key rate in the range of 0% to...

Alexis Tsipras won his elections for the second time this year. His party, Syriza, took in 35.5% of the votes against 28% for the closest challenger, the New Democracy. Syriza will therefore be able...

We’re about to experience turbulence… please fasten your seatbelts!The Fed’s eagerly awaited key rate decision at 2 p.m. today could definitely cause a fair bit of stirring on...

The U.S. economy created 173,000 jobs in August, falling short of the 217,000 new jobs expected by the market. The number of full-time jobs in the U.S. now stands at over 122 million, an all-time...

Canadian job data for August released on Friday took on a particular significance, as it was the first major indicator since the country officially entered a recession. The report revealed that 12,000...

After two bleak months, energy prices have finally changed course. WTI, diesel and Brent crude varied by 15%, 14% and 17% respectively in U.S. dollars in the final two trading days of last week...