Canada Factory Shipments Rose 1.4% in July

Canadian manufacturing activity picked up more strongly than expected in July thanks to an improvement by most of the country’s refineries with a rise in prices and demand and a jump in pharmaceutical and medicine sales, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sales volumes also improved, hinting at a recovery for a sector that has remained in the doldrums and offering a tailwind for the economy for the month. Factory shipments rose 1.4% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted 70.97 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about US$52.23 billion, Statistics Canada said Monday.
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Bank of Canada Says Trade Disruptions Could Hinder Inflation Fight

Global trade disruptions could make it harder for the Bank of Canada to consistently meet its 2% inflation target, and it will have to balance the risks of controlling higher prices with ensuring economic growth, Governor Tiff Macklem said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Inflation in Canada has been consistently falling this year, pushed down by interest rates that were at a two-decade high of 5% for more than a year before the central bank cut rates three times in a row from June.
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Canadian Tidal Power Developer Files for Bankruptcy

Another tidal energy company that hoped to harness the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy to generate electricity has come up short, CBC.ca reported. A spokesperson for the province's Department of Natural Resources and Renewables confirmed on Wednesday that Occurrent Power, formerly Big Moon Power, has filed for insolvency. "It is very unfortunate and is a concern for our tidal industry, clean innovation and greening the grid," Patricia Jreige said in a statement. Occurrent CEO Jay McKenna and CFO Mike Festa did not respond to messages seeking comment.
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Canada Jobless Rate Jumps to Highest Since 2017 Outside Covid

Canada’s economy added jobs for the first time in three months, but the unemployment rate surprisingly jumped to the highest level since the pandemic as the expanding pool of new workers are unable to find work, Bloomberg News reported. The country added 22,100 positions in August, and the jobless rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.6%. Outside the Covid-19 era, that’s the steepest rate since May 2017. The employment gains were driven by a net increase of 65,700 part-time positions. The number of full-time jobs fell 43,600.
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Bank of Canada Cuts to 4.25%, Eyes More Easing Ahead

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point for a third consecutive meeting, and reiterated that it’s “reasonable” to expect more easing to come if inflation keeps decelerating, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem lowered the benchmark overnight rate to 4.25% on Wednesday. Officials’ communications were little changed since their July meeting, and highlight the central bank’s increased focus on downside risks to inflation as they cut rates. They now see “little evidence” of broad-based price pressures.
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Bank of Canada Seen Cutting Rates Again as Inflation Worries Fade

The Bank of Canada is likely to cut interest rates for a third consecutive meeting, as officials try to engineer a soft landing for the economy and inflation worries fade, Bloomberg News reported. Markets and economists widely expect policymakers led by Tiff Macklem to lower the benchmark overnight rate to 4.25% on Wednesday. The key question is whether officials will talk about the longer-range outlook, now that the US Federal Reserve is ready to move and forecasters are expecting a series of rate cuts stretching well into next year.
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