The National Bank of Canada

The two Canadian indicators released yesterday had little in the way of encouragement. Wholesale Sales for December (-0.9% vs. -0.4% expected) and Foreign Securities Purchases (-1.92G vs. 6.75G) both...

The loonie stopped soaring yesterday, as Canadian and U.S. markets were closed and there were no economic news to cause our currency to fluctuate and little liquidity available. The greenback has...

Canada WatchAccording to the latest projections from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. production of primary energy is expected to continue to outstrip demand at an accelerated pace. As a result,...

According to just-released data from the Federal Reserve, oil and gas extraction remains a key driver of industrial output. As today’s Hot Chart shows, volume extraction has increased by more...

Bottom line: Ecuador’s mining sector has faced a number of formidable challenges in recent years, including aggressive resource nationalism, an uncertain regulatory environment and strong...

FACTS: Canada’s manufacturing sales slumped 3.1% in December, after a 1.9% increase in the prior month. Sales declined in 16 of the 21 industries, representing 82% of the manufacturing sector....

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its annual report on the Canadian economy on Thursday. Its main projections are as follows: Growth of 1.8% in 2013 (The Bank of Canada is forecasting...

U.S. Retail Sales for January were close to the market consensus and did not trigger any currency movements, as things remained very calm all day on Wednesday.Is the Japanese economy on the road to...

On Tuesday, G7 leaders pledged to avoid the current currency war, stressing that exchange rates should be determined by markets. This attitude smacks of hypocrisy, given that Japan has openly embraced...

France’s position is clear: The single currency is too strong. It lost some ground further to French President Hollande’s statement on Thursday. On Friday, ECB President Mario Draghi also...

Last week saw the release of more economic indicators suggesting that the Canadian economy is losing momentum. On Thursday, we learned that housing starts for December 2012 had slipped 30,000 from...

SummaryJob creation in Canada reached 310K in 2012, its strongest showing since 2007. At first glance, the private sector seems to have played a dominant role in this regard as nearly 80% of the job...

A string of disappointing announcements has confirmed suspicions of a Canadian economic slowdown.Thursday: December building permits were down 11% (vs. +5% expected)Friday: January housing starts were...

A string of disappointing announcements has confirmed suspicions of a Canadian economic slowdown.Thursday: December building permits were down 11% (vs. +5% expected).Friday: January housing starts...

FACTS: Total employment declined 21.9K in January following a surge of 87.5K over the two previous months. Full-time jobs were down 20.6K and part-time jobs also fell 1.4K. Employment in the...

FACTS: Canada’s merchandise trade deficit narrowed to C$0.9 bn in December from a revised C$1.7 bn deficit (C$2 bn deficit before revision). That was better than expected by consensus which was...