The Canadian economy likely expanded by a surprisingly strong 4.2 per cent in the first three months of the year, but it was a temporary burst of activity that is already over, the Bank of Canada says in its new outlook. The central bank’s new quarterly outlook paints a picture of an economy that is […]

The Bank of Canada boosted its growth forecast Tuesday but threw a curve ball at Bay Street expectations for a July interest-rate hike by warning the “persistent strength” in the loonie could cause even greater headwinds for the economy. While some analysts still expect the central bank to start raising rates in July after leaving […]

The International Monetary Fund boosted its expectations for Canadian economic growth this year as it warned the world is facing new threats from surging oil prices, Mideast turmoil, higher inflation in China and Europe’s debt woes. In a new economic forecast Monday, the organization raised its projection for Canadian growth of 2.8 per cent for […]

The long upward march in gas prices since late 2010, which has helped keep Canada’s resource-based economy chugging, is also costing Canadians the equivalent of 7% of their income tax bills in 2011, a CIBC World Markets report said Monday. While flashbacks to the last price spike in the humid summer of 2008 suggest the […]

Let’s just say you owed somebody a ton of money but there was no legal way to force you to pay it back? Would you? What if it was one of those evil corporate banks that make for an easy target? Did the answer just get a little easier? Not for 60% of Americans who […]

Canada’s economy unexpectedly shed 1,500 jobs last month, the first fall-back since September that analysts interpreted as a sign growth is moderating from the rapid pace of recent months. The disappointing report from Statistics Canada was not all bad — full-time jobs shot up by 90,600, hours worked rose a significant 0.5 per cent, and […]

As rising home prices continue to outpace income growth, many young Canadians have decided to delay home ownership for another year, according to a poll released Thursday by Royal Bank of Canada. RBC’s annual home ownership poll found that 55 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 34 said it made sense to delay a […]

Stronger economic growth, propelled by a commodity boom and an improving U.S. job market, will prompt the Bank of Canada to begin rate hikes in July to a 2% level by the end of the year and 3.5% in late 2012, economists at BMO Capital Markets said Wednesday in releasing its updated outlook. The investment […]

Somebody needs to explain to me the point behind points, especially considering reward miles now expire over time. Aeroplan has been the program in the news lately, but almost all of the so-called reward programs have some type of expiration on the points that you receive. “It’s a standard in the industry to have these […]

Do you lock in or go variable? With mortgage rates tantalizingly low it is easy to see why so many people prefer the latter, but that could change if the rates start to rise. Maria Dominelli, a mortgage specialist with independent mortgage brokerage firm Invis in Victoria, B.C., says deciding which route to choose depends […]