The Bank of Canada is likely to wrap up its quantitative tightening program as early as April, sooner than policymakers had previously indicated, according to RBC Capital Markets strategists, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank under Governor Tiff Macklem has been shrinking its balance sheet for about two years, withdrawing the extraordinary stimulus it provided during the worse phase of the Covid-19 shock.

Canadian home sales rose for the second month, with buyers rushing back into the market as speculation builds that prices will rise if the Bank of Canada lowers interest rates later this year, Bloomberg News reported. The number of homes that traded hands rose 3.7% in January from the month before, according to data Wednesday from the Canadian Real Estate Association. Prices continued to soften, with the seasonally adjusted benchmark falling 1.2% to C$717,800 ($529,500), the fifth straight monthly decline.

An acrimonious legal battle over the fate of the insolvent Harbour Grace shipyard ended in a St. John's courtroom Monday morning after a judge approved the sale of the yard to fishing industry executive Blaine Sullivan, CBC.ca reported. The deal is expected to close later this month. Sullivan has committed to making investments into the yard and protecting the workforce as he tries to return the business to profitability.

Members of the Bank of Canada's (BoC) governing council were concerned about cutting borrowing costs too soon amid persistent inflation when they decided to keep the key overnight rate on hold on Jan. 24, minutes published on Wednesday showed, Reuters reported. The policy-setting governing council was "particularly concerned about the persistence of inflation and did not want to lower interest rates prematurely," the minutes said. The Bank of Canada (BoC) aims to keep inflation at 2% and has increased its key overnight rate 10 times in 17 months to a 22-year high of 5% to tame inflation.

A company owned by Blaine Sullivan, a well-known leader in Newfoundland and Labrador's fishing industry, has emerged as the preferred bidder for the insolvent shipyard in Harbour Grace, CBC.ca reported. The advisory firm that's monitoring the court-supervised restructuring and sales process, PricewaterhouseCoopers, revealed in documents published this week on its website that it supports a sale of the yard to Green Skiff Investments.

A group of local landlords with hundreds of rental buildings in Ontario owe more than $144 million as they grapple with a “severe liquidity crisis” that has prompted them to seek creditor protection, the Hamilton Spectator reported. Between them, Aruba Butt, Dylan Suitor and Ryan Molony have 11 related corporations drowning in debt and less than $100,000 in cash as they make their bid under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), according to court filings.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said monetary policy can’t solve housing shortages that are driving up costs, suggesting that policymakers may consider looking beyond shelter inflation as they weigh how long to keep interest rates at current levels, Bloomberg News reported. In his first speech since holding the policy rate at 5% for a fourth consecutive meeting, Macklem said high shelter inflation — now the biggest contributor to above-target price gains — partly reflects the impact of rate increases on mortgage interest costs.

Business insolvencies jumped by more than 41 per cent in 2023, according to data released on Friday by Canada's top financial regulator, CBC.ca reported. The report from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy showed that the total number of insolvencies — meaning those filed by both businesses and consumers — was up by 23.6 per cent last year.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said that heightened demand for bonds is a cause of ongoing liquidity issues in the country’s funding markets, Bloomberg News reported. The Canadian Overnight Repo Rate Average, or Corra, has been stuck above the Bank of Canada’s overnight-rate target for weeks, spurring the central bank to intervene with a series of repo operations. On Wednesday, that spread widened to 7 basis points.

Thousands of Canadian small businesses face the risk of bankruptcy after the government ended pandemic-era support last month with the economy slowing at a time of high interest rates, Reuters reported. Small firms that employ fewer than 100 people are critical to the Canadian economy as they give jobs to almost two-thirds of the country's 12 million private workers. A spike in bankruptcies, which jumped 38% in the first 11 months of 2023, would weigh on economic growth, lobby groups and economists warn.