Notes From The Desk – FOMC Rate Decision – A Hawkish 50   The FOMC kicked off the easing cycle with a 50 bps reduction in the ‘Fed Funds’ rate. Although several cuts are clearly coming, the FOMC did not express a sense of urgency.   The interesting bits:   With one dissenter and 9 […]

Notes From the Desk: North American Employment Data – 50/50 on 50   Today’s payroll data confirms that job growth is slowing, opening the door for further central bank accommodation.   The numbers:   US   142k jobs created (165k expected). Unemployment rate: 4.2% (4.3% expected). YoY wage growth: 3.8% (3.7% expected).   Canada   […]

Notes From The Desk:  Bank of Canada (BoC) – Auto Pilot Engaged   Today’s announcement provided little excitement, as the BoC did the expected and lowered the overnight rate by 25 bps to 4.25%   The interesting bits:   The Bank pointed out that broad inflationary pressures continue to ease, although shelter and some services […]

Notes From the Desk: CAD July CPI – And The Trend Goes On.   Canadian inflation continues to move towards the Bank of Canada’s 2% target.   By The Numbers:   YoY CPI 2.5% (2.5% expected), the lowest level in 3 years. YoY CPI Core Median – 2.4% (2.5% expected). YoY CPI Core Trim – […]

Notes From the Desk – Canadian July Employment Data – Meh!   Today’s employment data will do little to calm fears over the state of the labour market.   The Numbers:   Instead of creating an expected 20k jobs, the economy lost 2.8k positions. The mix was mixed: 61.6k full-time jobs created. 64.4k part-time jobs […]