The National Bank of Canada

Earlier this morning, former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, who now heads the Bank of England, opted to take a page out of the Fed's playbook by linking the next interest rate hike to economic...

We received “good news” from Italy over the last 24 hours. First, Silvio Berlusconi’s party confirmed that they would continue the coalition formed with the government in power....

Last week we learned much more about the health of the U.S. and Canadian economies. Economic growth is not all that similar on either side of the longest international border in the world. The...

Canada – This week we got further clues about last quarter’s economic performance. GDP grew 0.2% in May, matching our forecast, but was one tick lower than consensus expectations. The...

We got some good news from the Old Continent this morning, with the Eurozone Purchasing Manufacturers' Index showing its first signs of expansion in the past 18 months. The survey of private sector...

Yesterday was certainly eventful in the political arena. Former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi's prison sentence was upheld, Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy stated that he would...

Yesterday’s release of U.S. GDP figures for the second quarter confirmed that this country’s economic growth accelerated at an annual rate of 1.7%, higher than the 1% growth rate markets...

This afternoon at 2 p.m., Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will expand on the question of tapering the current quantitative easing program. Obviously, the job market and real estate sector are two key...

The majority of U.S. stock markets closed the session in the red yesterday in anticipation of the FOMC’s announcement. The current bond buyback program has certainly helped shares perform...

Canada – Retail sales rose 1.9% in May, the biggest monthly increase since March 2010, easily topping consensus expectations. Adding to the good news was the one-tick upward revision to the...

Last week got off to a strong start with the release on Monday morning of Canadian retail sales data. Many were caught by surprise to hear that sales grew 1.9% in May, close to five times...

North American markets will try to keep calm and carry on, as they await the Fed's key rate announcement on Wednesday. No changes are expected to be announced to the $85 billion monthly bond buyback...

Despite recent dovish talk from Chairman Bernanke, the Fed remains on course to taper down the size of its asset purchase program before year-end. Modest US growth in the first half of 2013 is...

The USD has been struggling since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech that cast doubt on a potential tapering of quantitative easing in September. Even yesterday's good domestic news failed to reassure...

Dropping oil prices over the last few days, combined with a general decline of stock markets, resulted in the loonie’s depreciation against the USD yesterday. The pullback of Canadian bonds,...

Markets reacted positively to the release of Canadian retail sales figures yesterday. This index increased by 1.9% in May, vs. the 0.4% growth analysts were forecasting.U.S. stock markets have reached...