Canadian consumers haven’t tightened their belts this much in nearly a year, and there are no signs of spending growth since the start of 2024, Bloomberg News reported. Receipts for retailers were unchanged in March, according to an advance estimate from Statistics Canada released Wednesday. That followed a 0.1% drop in February. Taken together with the 0.3% plunge in January sales, the figures point to a flat reading in the first three months of the year, the weakest pace since the second quarter of 2023.
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Canadian consumer prices reaccelerated slightly as expected due to higher gasoline prices, while core metrics showed further disinflation progress, keeping the central bank on track to pivot to easier policy as early as June or July, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose 2.9% in March from a year ago, up from a 2.8% increase a month earlier, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa. That matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Excluding gasoline, the index slowed to 2.8% from a year ago, down from 2.9% in February.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is set to unveil an ambitious budget aimed at fixing housing affordability and helping young Canadians — but the big question is whether it will raise taxes to pay for it, Bloomberg News reported. The government has already announced at least C$46 billion ($33.4 billion), including C$17 billion in loans, for measures that include boosting housing supply, supporting artificial intelligence development and increasing defense spending.
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Hiring in Canada ground to a halt last month even as the population continued to boom, pushing the country’s unemployment rate to its highest in years in a further sign the labor market continues to loosen, the Wall Street Journal reported. Employment nationally slipped by 2,200 in March from the month before, the first decline since a similar dip last July, while the unemployment rate was 0.3 percentage point higher at 6.1%, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
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Some Canadians are feeling a little more optimistic about their debt with the prospect of interest rate cuts on the horizon, said MNP Ltd, the Toronto Star reported. The insolvency firm’s Consumer Debt Index metric showed a significant rebound in the first quarter of 2024 after 12 months of low scores, according to its latest report. More than a quarter of Canadians say that they perceive their current debt situation as better than a year ago. Fewer Canadian households than last quarter, at 41 per cent, say they are concerned about their current level of debt.
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Canada’s labor market unexpectedly lost jobs and the unemployment rate jumped to the highest level in more than two years, signaling greater slack in the economy that will test the central bank’s patient stance on rate cuts, Bloomberg News reported. The country shed 2,200 jobs in March and the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.1%, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa. The figures missed expectations for a gain of 25,000 positions and a jobless rate of 5.9%, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
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Pride Group Holdings has sought creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), after lender Mitsubishi HC Capital America filed a claim this week seeking damages of approximately US$100 million, trucknews.com reported. Three lawsuits on behalf of the Mitsubishi HC Capital named Sulakhan ‘Sam’ Johal and Jasvir Johal, accuse them of taking out credit lines to build inventories for Pride Truck Sales and Tpine Leasing. It accused them of defaulting on payments they had personally guaranteed. The claims have not been proven in court.
Steelworker union Local 1005 says the recent court filings by U.S. Steel is “bankruptcy fraud” and a path to abandoning Hamilton altogether — not only ditching the liability of its pensioners, but the cleanup costs of leaving the city, too, the CBC reported. Union head Rolf Gerstenberger made the statement at Local 1005’s headquarters at Barton and Kenilworth, questioning the company’s motives, repeatedly recalling a $58-million settlement U.S. Steel was has agreed to pay for price-fixing case in July for actions dating back a decade, and calling the process of bankruptcy protection theft.
Canada’s economy made a solid start to the new year with growth in the first two months tracking well ahead of the Bank of Canada’s forecast, reinforcing expectations the central bank will once again stick to the sidelines at its coming policy meeting, the Wall Street Journal reported. The expansion in January was the strongest in a year, bolstered by a recovery with public sector strikes ending in Quebec and backed by increased activity across many segments of the economy.