The National Bank of Canada

Canada – In June, retail sales did worse than anticipated, falling 0.6% instead of the 0.4% expected by consensus. To add to the bad news, the prior month’s growth was revised down a tick...

An event-filled fall is on the way with several key events worth monitoring in the coming weeks. The possible tapering in Fed bond buybacks, German elections and turmoil in emerging nations could...

For more than three hours yesterday, a technical glitch shut down the NASDAQ Stock Market, which blocked trades on some of the most important U.S. companies. Quite an embarrassing situation for the...

The FOMC Meeting Minutes published yesterday weighed heavily on stock markets, the Canadian loonie and bond valuations, as many committee members suggested that the pace of bond purchases would be...

After a rough start to the week, bond markets have rallied somewhat, resulting in lower yields across the curve on both sides of the 49th parallel. U.S. equities saw a mixed day, with the Dow Jones...

Fears that interest rate hikes could affect the recovery weighed heavily on U.S. stock markets yesterday, as they lost ground for a fourth consecutive session. Despite this losing streak, U.S....

On Friday we learned that sales in Canada’s manufacturing sector fell -0.5% in June. This figure was well below the 0.3% increase expected by analysts. The decline in sales could result in...

The annual retreat for Fed members in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which begins Thursday, and the release of the minutes of the most recent FOMC meeting will be the main events that bear watching this week...

Les bons du trésor américain ont touché à leur plus haut niveau en 2 ans, hier. Il semble que les investisseurs prévoient une diminution hâtive de...

Confrontations between supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and the Egyptian army degenerated yesterday, resulting in nearly 525 dead according to government sources. A curfew is in effect in...

For the first time in seven quarters, eurozone GDP has grown over the past three months. Growth in GDP even outstripped market expectations, coming in at +0.3% rather than the anticipated +0.2%. This...

Canada – The merchandise trade deficit narrowed to C$0.47 bn in June from a revised deficit of C$0.78 bn in May (initially reported as a deficit of just C$0.3 bn). The improvement in...

The Canadian smart phone manufacturer BlackBerry, formerly known as RIM, has hired advisors to evaluate its strategic options. Several analysts are forecasting the sale of the company to a private...

Major News this WeekLast week gave very little in terms of new economic statistics from North America; most of the news focused on Europe and Asia. Overall, the statistics from Australia were...

Markets seemed to be in summer mode and took the weekend off. It was a very quiet weekend with financial markets essentially remaining at the same levels they were at on Friday. Japan broke this trend...

Although the forecast was for calm yesterday, markets saw the USD nosedive. The trend began with the AUD and NZD, on the strength of positive indicators out of China, and spilled over to the euro and...