The March Canadian employment data was in line with the market expectations. 72.5K jobs created (93k full time jobs created, while the economy lost 20k of part time workers Unemployment rate drops to 5.3%, the lowest since 1976 Wage growth accelerated from 3.3% to 3.7% YoY   This data sets the stage for the BoC […]

US Payrolls – Keeping the Flames Alive Hiring in the US continued at a solid pace: 431k jobs added versus expectations for 490k Previous two payrolls revised higher by 95k job Unemployment rate 3.6% (3.7% expected) Annual wage growth 5.6% (5.5% expected) Participation rate moves up to 62.4%   The pace of job growth is […]

COVID – Been There, Done That The Canadian economy continues to storm back from the pandemic. Today’s Labour Force numbers were jaw-dropping: 336.6K jobs created vs expectations of 127.5k Unemployment rate falls to 5.5% vs 6.2% expected (just above pre-pandemic low of 5.4%) Participation rate increases from 65.2% to 65.4% Hours worked increases by 3.6% Wages […]

The Expected – US CPI. Today’s US CPI came in as expected with headline inflation of 7.9% and core inflation of 6.4%. With the recent jump in commodity prices threatening to prolong the period of higher inflation, we expect the Federal Reserve to raise rates 25bps next week and signal that a steady stream of […]

Bargains in High-Quality Credit? Yesterday, Scotiabank came to market with a $2.25 bn 5y Senior Bond. · The coupon was 2.95% · Credit spread of +132 bps The credit spread is more than double the level from just over a year ago (Feb 2021 ~ 63 bps). Over the same period, BNS stock is up […]