December 2010 Canadian Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Competition Series Part 8: What Part of Unbundled Services Require "Agency"?





Now that the Competition Bureau and CREA have reached an agreement that realtors may provide unbundled services, if they wish, how many of these services, really require `agency`.





According to CREA, the following represent a list of agency services that are available from members:





(a) Market advice;
(b) Comparative evaluations;
(c) Listing preparation advice;
(d) Advice about pre-sale home inspections;
(e) Information about listing options;
(f) Privacy protections from the public;
(g) Showings of the home;
(h) Marketing the home, including advertising to maximize exposure, listing the property in the local MLSÂ System, placing advertisements in the local media and on the Internet;
(i) Coordination of multiple offers to the seller's advantage;
G) Guidance through the transaction including coordinating with the seller's solicitor;
(k) Reviewing contracts; and
(1) Negotiating with potential home buyers.





As each of these individual services are examined, you can appreciate that they need not be acquired or delivered pursuant to an agency appointment. They could simply be contractual services, without any agency relationship whatsoever.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada's earnings rise 4.4%





OTTAWA ` Average weekly earnings by Canadians in non-farm jobs increased 4.4% in October from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said Thursday.







Earnings averaged $863.33 for the month, the federal agency reported, while payrolls were up 1.7% to 14.74 million from a year earlier.








The average workweek increased 2.4% to 32.9 hours over the past 12 month.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian's earnings rise 4.4%



OTTAWA ` Average weekly earnings by Canadians in non-farm jobs increased 4.4% in October from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said Thursday.



Earnings averaged $863.33 for the month, the federal agency reported, while payrolls were up 1.7% to 14.74 million from a year earlier.



The average workweek increased 2.4% to 32.9 hours over the past 12 month.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada growth forecasts trimmed







OTTAWA ` The Canadian economy rebounded in October after shrinking in the previous month, Statistics Canada said Thursday, as robust gains in mining and oil and gas extraction, coupled with slight improvements in real estate, offset declines in manufacturing and retail.




However, the 0.2% month-over-month gain was just below market expectations for a 0.3% boost, and prompted some economists to begin trimming back growth expectations for fourth-quarter economic activity. Since April, month-over-month growth in economic activity has averaged less than 0.1%, after ending 2009 and beginning 2010 with a bang.




`Despite the miss relative to the consensus forecast, the report indicates that the economy rallied back after [economic] output was steady or fell in two of the three months of the third quarter,` said Dawn Desjardins, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

IMF sees risks to Canada's growth





Canada's economy is facing some serious obstacles, including high household debt and anticipated health-care spending issues, the International Monetary Fund warned in a report Wednesday.




The IMF said Canada will see "muted growth" next year, after riding out the recession in comparatively better shape than its peers. Canada saw a strong recovery, especially in the first half of 2010 on the back of widespread consumer spending as the Bank of Canada held interest rates low and credit flowed.




"Household debt has run up to high levels, housing markets are cooling and fiscal stimulus is waning. Risks are tilted to the downside," the report said. "In the absence of a double-dip recession in the United States and/or a new rapid deterioration of global financial conditions ... Canada should enjoy a comfortable, if not exuberant, rate of growth in the near term."




Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, noted that Canada scored the second-highest totals on the IMF's economic performance indicator after Germany among G7 countries, but the results were nevertheless the weakest since 1994.







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Down Under housing market booms, Canada simmers: Scotiabank







Australia`s soaring real estate market makes Canada`s look cool by comparison, according to the latest global real estate trends report put out by Bank of Nova Scotia.




Boosted by extremely low unemployment, booming resource prices and a tight housing supply, Australia`s housing inflation-adjusted prices shot up about 12 per cent year-over-year in 2010 using Scotia`s estimates.





The market has been so hot that the Reserve Bank of Australia, the country`s central bank, has hiked interest rates 175 basis points since October 2009.







Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian economy resumes growth in October on oil, gas








OTTAWA`Canada`s economy resumed growing in October after a brief downturn in September, rising by 0.2 per cent for the month, thanks to mining and oil and gas extraction, Statistics Canada said Thursday.




Analysts polled by Reuters expected gross domestic product by industry to climb by 0.3 per cent after a 0.1 per cent dip in September.




Oil and gas extraction rose 1.3 per cent from September, in part due to better weather, while mining was up 2.7 per cent due to the end of labour disputes at copper, nickel, lead and zinc mines.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Brace for mortgage rate hikes in 2011



You may want to include paying down debt on your list of New Year's resolutions.



Most economists expect the Bank of Canada to stand still on interest rates until well into 2011.



But your mortgage rates could still go up. Why? Six-month, one-year and five-year mortgage rates are more closely tied to North American bond markets, rather than what the central bank is doing to its benchmark overnight rate.



As The Star`s Michael Lewis reported last week, many banks just put their mortgage rates up because their cost of borrowing is going up in the bond market.



Banks and other borrowers have to pay higher interest rates to entice investors, who have been unloading bonds and putting their money into rising stock markets.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Flaherty preaches prudence to banks







OTTAWA ` Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the country`s chartered banks should exercise more prudence over their lending practices to households rather than publicly calling on Ottawa to intervene on their behalf.




Nevertheless, he said in a year-end interview with the National Post he stands ready next year to curb Canadians` insatiable appetite for debt, which hit another record high level in the third quarter of 2010.




`We have a regulatory role and if we need to tighten the rules because the banks don`t ` and it is necessary to do so ` we would,` Mr. Flaherty said.




Cracking down on the lines of credit that people can take out against their homes is one of several options the Finance Minister mentioned in an interview with Postmedia News.




In its latest outlook on Canada, released on Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund identified bloated consumer balance sheets as the biggest risk to the domestic economy.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian real estate outperforms most peers, but 2011 forecast 'lacklustre': Report





Canada had one of the better performing housing markets in 2010 according to a Scotia Economics year-end review, though the outlook for 2011 anticipates a fairly lacklustre year.





Scotia`s Global Real Estate Trends report tracked housing in 12 advanced nations, and found that Canada was one of six countries this year where inflation-adjusted home prices increased.





The report however, also found that this country`s housing market was also one of the most volatile. Factors such as the introduction of the HST in Ontario and British Columbia, expectations of rising interest rates, and changing criteria for mortgage lending all played a part in the volatility.





Looking forward to next year, Scotia Economics is neither optimistic nor pessimistic about housing in Canada.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian economy faces 'another year of surprises'





Canada's economic recovery will continue in 2011 but at a slower pace than this year, with stronger exports only partially compensating for weaker domestic spending.




Bolstering the export side of the economy will be continuing strong commodity prices and some easing in the value of the Canadian dollar against a U.S. currency that will get a lift from the tax-break-fuelled strengthening of the recovery south of the border.




Within Canada, however, spending will slow as interest rates begin to rise and governments tighten their belts.




That in a nutshell, and barring any surprises, is how the new year should unfold, according to analysts.




Still, TD Bank economist Derek Burleton noted: "With many risks still over-hanging the global economy, 2011 is promising to be another year full of surprises."






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian chamber predicts subdued growth in 2011, interest rates inching higher







OTTAWA ` Canada`s economy is `chugging along,` according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which predicts growth will be below 2.5 per cent next year.




In its Economic Outlook for 2011 released Monday, the chamber noted Canada`s economy had slipped into a period of `subdued growth` following an initial rebound from the recession.




It said the economy expanded a `sluggish` 2.3 per cent annual rate in second quarter of 2010 and just one per cent in third quarter.




`The Canadian economy is chugging along but not at full steam,` the chamber`s CEO Perrin Beatty said in a release.




More prudent consumer spending, a cooling housing market, the wind down of government stimulus spending and depressed exports due to a high Canadian dollar and sluggish U.S. demand are likely to impact economic growth.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Analysts forecast slower growth, belt-tightening for Canadian economy





Canada`s economic recovery will continue in 2011 but at a slower pace than this year, with stronger exports only partially compensating for weaker domestic spending.




Bolstering the export side of the economy will be continuing strong commodity prices, and some easing in the value of the Canadian dollar against a U.S. currency that will get a lift from the tax-break fuelled strengthening of the recovery south of the border.




Within Canada, however, spending will slow as interest rates begin to rise and governments tighten their belts.




That in a nutshell, and barring any surprises, is how the new year should unfold, according to analysts.




Still, TD Bank economist Derek Burleton noted: `With many risks still over-hanging the global economy, 2011 is promising to be another year full of surprises.`




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Flaherty eyes tightening home equity loans to rein in consumer debt





OTTAWA ` Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is looking at a variety of ways to encourage Canadian households to trim their record-high debt levels, including a tightening of the rules on the lines of credit that people can take out against their homes.





It's one of several options on the table as Flaherty prepares for a year in which he expects to get a lot of practice shooting down proposals for major fiscal initiatives that would set the Harper government back in its quest to eliminate the federal deficit.





"I'm saying 'no' a lot," the finance minister told Postmedia News this week in a year-end interview at his Department of Finance office in downtown Ottawa. "This is the year for 'no.'"





Next spring's federal budget marks the end of the government's two-year economic-stimulus package, and the beginning of an era of relative spending restraint that the Conservatives say will erase the deficit, which hit a record $56 billion, by 2015-16.





But even as the Canadian economy recovers, other risks are emerging, including the unsettling growth in household debt, which has reached a record high relative to incomes. Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney recently warned the debt binge has made consumers more vulnerable to unexpected shocks, and advised them to be more prudent.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Canada's housing market one of global top performers in 2010: Report



Canada`s housing market was one of the best as well as volatile performers among advanced countries in 2010, but appears poised for a much more lacklustre turn next year, Scotia Economics says.



This year, Canada was among six of 12 countries studied that saw home prices increase, according to the bank`s year-end Globe Real Estate Trends report issued Thursday. Other countries which saw price advances included Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and Switzerland.



Prices in the U.S. and Germany were flat, and those in Ireland, Italy, Japan and Spain fell.



In Canada, an unusually active winter and spring -- prompted by pent-up demand coming out of the recession, along with expectations of rising interest rates and higher taxes being introduced in two provinces -- gave way to an unusually soft summer.



Sales returned to a more typical, sustainable level in the fall.



Adrienne Warren, senior economist at Scotia Economics, predicts a more subdued Canadian market in 2011 as interest rates remain near historical lows but in a climate of global economic uncertainty.



`We are neither overtly optimistic nor pessimistic regarding the outlook for 2011,` Warren wrote in the report.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Outlook 2011: The Economy



Is the recovery a lock for the new year, or could the economy suffer a setback? BNN finds out what Canadians should be bracing themselves for with Warren Jestin, Chief Economist, Scotiabank and Sheryl King, Head of Canadian Economics and Strategy, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.



See the video here.

 

[Ally]

Canadian economy could face 'another year of surprises'





Canada`s economic recovery will continue in 2011 but at a slower pace than this year, with stronger exports only partially compensating for weaker domestic spending.




Bolstering the export side of the economy will be continuing strong commodity prices, and some easing in the value of the Canadian dollar against a U.S. currency that will get a lift from the tax-break fuelled strengthening of the recovery south of the border.




Within Canada, however, spending will slow as interest rates begin to rise and governments tighten their belts.




That in a nutshell, and barring any surprises, is how the new year should unfold, according to analysts.




Still, TD Bank economist Derek Burleton noted: `With many risks still over-hanging the global economy, 2011 is promising to be another year full of surprises.`




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

BMO's list of predictions for 2011




If there`s one thing we like more than predictions at the Financial Post, it`s lists.




So here`s a list of predictions for 2011 from Doug Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, and Paul Taylor, chief investment officer with BMO Harris Private Banking.




Unfortunately, they`re not in Top 10 format. Maybe next year.




Mr. Porter`s predictions:

• The Bank of Canada will hold interest rates until at least late spring, on a combination of the loonie hitting parity and the U.S. Federal Reserve`s shift back to more quantitative easing
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Fiscal policy will shift to restraint from stimulus next year, at both the federal level and in many provinces. Mr. Porter has also nudged his Canadian GDP outlook to 2.7% from the low 2s, but notes it is still less than the U.S> forecast and the 2010 result

Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Loonie at the mercy of the U.S. dollar in 2011




The threat of more government financial bailouts in Europe could mean either a shot in the arm or a poke in the eye for the loonie next year, depending on which forecaster you speak to.




The range of predictions for how the Canadian dollar will fare in 2011 runs the gamut from a tumble to 81.9 cents (U.S.) by the end of next year, to a more bullish outlook suggesting it will stay above parity and end the year at $1.05.




The Bloomberg composite of 32 forecasts has the loonie spending most of the year at parity, then dipping slightly by the fourth quarter.




On Friday, the loonie closed up 0.54 cents, at 100.54 cents U.S. That represented a gain of about 5 per cent in 2010 against the U.S. dollar, after it rose 16 per cent in 2009.




The wide range in forecasts shows the potential for volatility this year, according to Derek Burleton, deputy chief economist at TD Bank.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Harper hails 2010 as a 'momentous' year for Canada






Prime Minister Stephen Harper toasted Canada's solid successes in 2010 in an that contrasted sharply to those of global leaders who face continuing economic or political crises.




Despite a massive federal deficit, Mr. Harper offered no call to Canadians for common sacrifice, as British Prime Minister David Cameron did. Despite a sluggish economy, he felt no need to reach back to the achievements of previous generations to urge Canadians to renew their country's greatness, as U.S. President Barack Obama did.




In a manner consistent with his minority government status and unrelenting partisanship, Mr. Harper was boosterish and self-congratulatory, where his British and U.S. counterparts were blunt and explicitly reaching out to political competitors.




Mr. Harper simply reviewed the achievements of the past year: an economy that is healthier than that of many nations; an inspiring Canadian performance at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver; his own chairmanship of the G8 /G20 summits. And he promised a steady hand on the tiller for the future.





Read the full article here.