On Friday, the Canadian dollar rose nearly a cent relative to the U.S. dollar. The sudden ‘strength’ came from a couple of sources. First, more confidence that the Bank of Canada will continue the path gradual rate hikes; second, a weaker U.S. Dollar. Recent Canadian economic data warrants the Bank’s outlook for gradual rate increases…. Read more »
Category: Economy & Financial Markets
Bank of Canada increases target rate again, but questions remain on the economy and dollar
The Bank of Canada increased the target interest rate today by 0.25%, to 1.5%. This is now the fourth rate hike, amounting to 1%, since the Bank hiked rates for the first time since 2007 a year ago. Over the last year, the Bank of Canada has matched the aggressiveness of the U.S. Federal Reserve,… Read more »
Protectionist policies slap grain markets around
Grain markets had a very rough week heading into the middle of June, surrounded by trade uncertainty and positive crop conditions. In fact, forget about crop conditions. Or rainfall. Or heat units. Whether or not the borders are open for business has become the only fundamental factor that really seems to matter to the direction… Read more »
Canadian GDP shows better growth; interest rates may edge higher
Wednesday was a big day for economic news in both Canada and also for our friends south of the border, in the United States. Here at home, the market is digesting the most recent GDP data for November, while the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee made the decision to hold interest rates in the country…. Read more »
Currency Wars — where is the U.S. dollar really headed?
Last week there were reasons for confusion on what direction the American dollar might take based on White House policy. Most of the confusion last week was driven by comments made by different members of the White House team. “It’s interesting, it’s almost like currency wars at the moment,” says Matthew Pot of Grain Perspectives… Read more »
Rear-view rate hikes concerning with economic fogginess ahead
As the Bank of Canada raised its target interest rate a 1/4 point this week, there is disagreement in how the Canadian economy will fare in 2018. While one or two more rate hikes are expected in 2018, there are also concerns on the horizon for the Canadian economy. As we hear from Farm Credit… Read more »
Bank of Canada announcement causes brief volatility in the Canadian dollar
The Bank of Canada raised target rates this morning by 0.25 percent. The Canadian dollar (CAD) initially responded by falling over a half cent, but closed the day slightly higher. While rate hike announcements tend to inspire a bullish dollar, what is often overlooked is what the market was expecting prior to the announcement. In… Read more »
Could blockchain transform agricultural markets?
Before we begin to explain how blockchain may be a game changer for agricultural marketing let’s answer that question that is likely at the top of your mind. “What the the heck is blockchain?” According to the Harvard Business Review, it is “an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and… Read more »
Canada reports a five month low in trade deficit due to rising exports
Both Canada and the United States released their export numbers for the month of October this week and there are some interesting takeaways. Fresh off last week’s third quarter GDP numbers that were dragged down by weak exports, the Statistics Canada trade data pushlished on Tuesday showed rebounding exports. Canada’s trade deficit shrank to a… Read more »
Canada shows surprisingly strong job numbers, weaker GDP growth
On Friday, Statistics Canada released its third-quarter economic report, which included an update on gross domestic product and job growth. With the Canadian government boasting a strong economy and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations in an arguably precarious situation, many experts are watching the domestic economic climate very closely. Some of the highlights… Read more »
China’s economy still showing strong growth
Every week, there are mountains of global economic data to shuffle through. The past week’s info has Farm Credit Canada’s vice president and chief agricultural economist, JP Gervais, thinking about the direction of China’s economy. “If we just focus on China, economic growth of 6.7 percent — that’s actually pretty strong,” says Gervais, referring to… Read more »
Bank of Canada announces earlier-than-expected interest rate hike
The Bank of Canada announced its second interest rate hike in two months, surprising analysts, and raising the target interest rate by one-quarter point to 1 percent. The last interest rate hike was announced in mid-July, and was the first increase the country had seen in over seven years. Many analysts had expected Bank of Canada… Read more »
Interest rate increases coming to Canada and the impact of trade talks on the Canadian economy
The Canadian economy has been healthy as of late, which has many farmers with higher debt levels somewhat concerned about interest rate increases in the near future. Farmers have enjoyed a low interest rate environment for quite some time, but the reality is – the Bank of Canada has some some decisions to make. Additionally… Read more »
RealAg Markets: Second day of red all over the screen
The markets continued their strong bearish tone as grains and oilseeds pushed lower across the board for the second day in a row on Tuesday. On Monday, one excuse was that Friday’s bearish cattle on feed report sparked a push to sell. Expected rains in the U.S. midwest later this week have certainly driven some… Read more »
Cooling off? — This Week in the Grain Market
Grain prices over the first two weeks of July are still swinging a bit wildly as the market is trying to price in the recent heat. Scorching temperatures hit most of North America before the USDA came out with their July WASDE report on July 12th, 2017. The report was met with some bearish skepticism,… Read more »