Canada’s retailers faced a further pullback in sales in recent months, yet another sign of the stresses consumers are under that argues for additional rate relief from the central bank, the Wall Street Journal reported. Retail sales dropped by the most in more than a year in May and an early tally of receipts points to further belt-tightening by Canadians in June, data released Friday by Statistics Canada showed.
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Trans Mountain Corp. plans to borrow in the bond market to refinance some of its outstanding debt ahead of the Canadian government’s eventual sale of the oil pipeline operator, Bloomberg News reported. The debt deal may still be months away from coming to the market, with size and structure yet to be set, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. The company hasn’t issued debt previously and does not currently have a credit rating. The company reported that it had C$25.3 billion ($18.4 billion) debt as of March 31.
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Ontario's self-described Crypto King will likely remain bankrupt until criminal fraud and money laundering charges are resolved against the 25-year-old, CBC.ca reported. Justice William Black dismissed Aiden Pleterski's application for a discharge from his nearly two-year-long bankruptcy in a ruling released on Thursday. "Mr. Pleterski's conduct warrants an emphasis on public protection and accountability," wrote the Ontario Superior Court judge.
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The Bank of Canada needs to wrap up its quantitative tightening program or fix distortions in short-term funding markets that are keeping effective interest rates higher, according to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce strategists, Bloomberg News reported. Canada’s central bank has been shrinking its balance sheet for more than two years, withdrawing the extraordinary stimulus it provided during the Covid-19 crisis.
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With many Canadian homeowners facing a sharp rise in mortgage payments, many of them have decided to bail, resulting in the highest number of Toronto housing units for sale in more than a decade and signaling a big drop in prices in the coming months, Reuters reported. In Toronto, a city where two-thirds of the country's condominiums are sold, considered a bellwether for other big metropolitan areas, inventories have pushed past highs reached 10 years ago, data showed. At the same time, sales have lagged.
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Hiring in Canada ground to a halt last month, pushing the unemployment rate to a fresh more than two-year high and taking some of the heat out of the recent surprise acceleration in inflation ahead of the central bank’s next rate decision, the Wall Street Journal reported. The job market was effectively stalled in June, with 1,400 jobs lost for the month, allowing the unemployment rate to climb 0.2 percentage point to 6.4%, Statistics Canada reported Friday. The result undershot market expectations for the addition of a modest 25,000 jobs and a unemployment rate of 6.3%.
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An Ontario judge has authorized a sale process which could see The Body Shop Canada land new owners, the Canada Press reported. Justice Peter Osborne granted an application today from the beleaguered retailer, which wants to be able to engage with potential buyers who could keep the business afloat. The cosmetics retailer sought creditor protection earlier this year because its parent company, a European private equity firm, stripped it of cash and pushed it into debt, forcing it to close some stores.
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The saga of green-tech darling Nexii Building Solutions has ended with a court-approved bankruptcy sale of the company and its debts to two Americans, BIV reported. According to a BC Supreme Court approval and vesting order, Nexii Building Solutions and its subsidiaries have been sold to Nexiican Holdings Inc. and Nexii Inc. for $500,000 and assumption of more than $20 million in debt obligations. The principals of the two acquiring entities are Blake Beckham, a lawyer with Beckham Portela in Dallas, Texas, and director for Nexiican Holdings; and Russ Lambert, president of Nexii Inc.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada in June joined the ranks of big central banks easing policy, while emerging markets ploughed ahead in their quest to lower interest rates, Reuters reported. Three of the nine central banks overseeing the 10 most heavily traded currencies that held meetings in June reduced their lending benchmarks, with Switzerland delivering its second rate cut in this cycle.
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said the country’s economy is headed for a soft landing, suggesting the central bank expects the unemployment rate to rise but that a large increase isn’t needed to achieve the inflation target, Bloomberg News reported. On Monday, Macklem said Canada’s unemployment rate — which hit 6.2% in May — was “just above” pre-pandemic levels, when the labor market was close to “maximum sustainable employment” — the highest level of jobs an economy can have without stoking inflation.
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