Over the past few years our lives have been impacted by the loss of three close friends to breast cancer.We have chosen to help make a difference by partnering with the Canadian Breast
Cancer Foundation, BC/Yukon Region by donating a portion of our income for each mortgage during the month of May.We will be working with the CBCF to bring awareness, initiatives for prevention, detection, and treatment of breast cancer for both men and women.
We are extremely proud of this opportunity toprovide on going, annual support to such an
Economists assure us that an economic recovery is underway and have the figures to prove it. Most of the major indicators -- gross domestic product, retail sales, merchandise exports, corporate profits, manufacturing, wholesale trade and residential construction -- are up. But the latest reading of consumer confidence suggests Canadians aren't convinced.
In fact, the Conference Board of Canada's consumer confidence index plunged in April, with the number of people saying their financial situation was worse now than six months ago increasing by 4.7 points, to 24.2%. That level is little changed from the depths of the recession.
In B.C., the euphoria of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games quickly dissipated and the 26-point jump in confidence in March turned into a nosedive of 28 points in April.
The disparity between statistics and sentiment is striking.
The economy is growing. The Bank of Canada recently raised its forecast for GDP growth to 3.7% this year. And jobs are being created. Employment was up by 18,000 in March, bringing total gains since July 2009 to 176,000. Yet the confidence survey found that the number who thought there would be more jobs in their communities six months from now declined, while the number who expected fewer jobs rose.
Why the gloom? For a start, the unemployment rate remains unchanged, at 8.2%, and employment gains for youth and men aged 25 to 54 were not significant; most of the gains were among women aged 25 to 54 and men over 55. Talk of recovery is moot for those whose jobs were wiped out in the recession and haven't come back.
The threat of higher interest rates is also putting a damper on consumers' enthusiasm. In advance of an anticipated quarter-to half-point hike in the key overnight rate by the central bank in June, mortgage rates are already rising rapidly and homeowners due to renew or holding variable-rate mortgages face higher housing costs. Indeed, the high level of consumer debt, including mortgage debt, is seen by many economic pundits as a major risk to the recovery.
An even darker cloud on the global economy is sovereign debt. Greece's debt has been downgraded by Standard & Poor's to junk status, a move that sank oil prices, rattled stock markets and sliced a penny from the value of the Canadian dollar as investors fled to the relative safety of the U.S. dollar.
Portugal's credit rating has also been cut a notch, and more than a few observers are worried that the European debt crisis could spiral out of control.
Most developed countries are now running budget deficits, and their governments are counting on robust economic growth to balance the books.
And it's not only consumers who are concerned the recovery isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Export Development Canada, the Crown agency that supports Canadian exporters, said in a report this week that recovery remains elusive and still depends on government stimulus spending. Though merchandise exports were up in April, they are 23% below July 2008's peak.
"What we have going for us right now might not be enough to keep us from a possible dip in growth in the second half of this year," said Peter Hall, EDC's chief economist.
In short, there's no doubt that the technical recession is over. Whether the recovery is sustainable is the big, unanswerable question.
Buyers are looking for clean, especially when it come to bathrooms.
Place all your tub items such as shampoos and soaps in a plastic bin. Store the bin out of view, preferable underneath the sink during showings. This of course may mean that you will need to de-clutter under the sink to allow for everyday items to be stored there. Keeping it in a tub will make life simpler and easier for you and will help to keep the space tidy before showings.
Paint!!!
If you are going to use a strong color, this would be the room to do it in. Bathrooms cannot get any smaller and dark tones really show off the porcelain. Keeping in mind, warm colors are for living and cool colors are for selling. These are just a few strategies that will get you on your way to showcasing your home.
OTTAWA - Inflationary pressures in Canada eased considerably last month, putting into question expectations that the Bank of Canada will be raising int
erest rates in a matter of weeks.
Statistics Canada reported Friday that Canada’s annual inflation rate slipped by two-tenths of a point to 1.4 per cent, and the closely watched Bank of Canada core rate fell even further — by four-tenths of a point to 1.7 per cent in March.
On a month-to-month basis, Canadians saw no increase in overall prices between February and March.
The agency said the big reason for the drops in both annual indexes was that the price-distorting Olympics ceased being a major contributor to inflation with the conclusion of the Winter Games at the end of February.
Prices for traveller accommodation soared 64.1 per cent in February, but in March they dropped back to earth to a more tame 2.8 per cent increase from March 2009.
Earlier in the week, the Bank of Canada cited inflationary risks for dropping its year-old conditional pledge to leave interest rates at record lows until at least July after the core reached as high as 2.1 per cent in February.
Economists had expected a slight slip in core inflation, once the Olympics ended, but the consensus was that core inflation would be right on the central bank’s target of two per cent.
March’s large fall now puts the core inflation rate, which excludes volatile items such as gasoline prices, well below the central bank’s target.
The March data suggests prices continue to be soft across many sectors with the exception of gasoline and everything else to do with cars.
Prices at gas pumps across Canada were 17.2 per cent higher in March than they had been a year earlier, overall transportation costs were six per cent higher, prices for the passenger vehicles rose 3.9 per cent and the cost of insuring them cost 5.5 per cent more. But food costs only advanced 1.3 per cent, mostly due to a 2.6 per cent hike in restaurant bills.
As well, consumers paid slightly more for household operations and furnishings, for health and personal care, reading, tuition fees, and cable and satellite services. But many items cost less this March than they did a year ago, including shelter costs and mortgage costs, clothing and footwear, as well as fresh vegetables, meat and fresh fruit.
With interest rates at record lows, mortgage costs were a full six per cent less in March than a year ago. Regionally, the agency said all provinces recorded a price increases, with the Atlantic provinces registering the biggest gains.http://news.therecord.com/article/701309
Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney is juggling competing economic pressures.(CBC)
The Canadian dollar rose sharply Tuesday as the Bank of Canada warned that it will be raising interest rates.
At midday, the dollar was up 1.63 cents to 100.17 cents US.
The Bank of Canada kept its key lending rate unchanged Tuesday, but warned that its low-rate policy has a limited future.
The bank held the overnight rate at 0.25 per cent, as economists had expected.
But with the economy recovering and inflation running above the bank's two per cent target, the need for rock-bottom lending rates "is now passing," it said in a statement.
The extent and timing of any change in the key rate "will depend on the outlook for economic activity and inflation," the bank said. The bank also noted growth is "proceeding somewhat more rapidly" than it expected earlier this year, increasing the chance of a rate rise in the early summer.
"Simply put, this statement marks a dramatic change in tone by the bank, and doesn't rule out possible 50 basis point moves," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets, in a commentary.
Porter predicted a June rate hike is now "likely," adding that the central bank is clearly much more concerned about inflation than previously indicated.
The bank sets a target level for the overnight rate, which is often called the key interest rate or key policy rate because it indicates the bank's thinking about the economy.
The overnight rate is the interest rate major financial institutions charge each other for one-day loans.
The rate has been at a very low 0.25 per cent since April 2009, when it was cut from 0.50 per cent as the recession worsened. It was at a recent peak of 4.5 per cent in October 2007.
The bank's "extraordinary policy" of ultra-low rates was introduced to boost the recovery, the statement said.
The bank is forecasting growth of 3.7 per cent this year, reflecting stronger global activity, strong housing activity in Canada and the bank’s conclusion that policy stimulus advanced some spending into late 2009 and early 2010.
It's forecasting that Canadian economic growth will slow to 3.1 per cent in 2011 and 1.9 per cent in 2012.
Competing pressures
Bank governor Mark Carney is juggling competing pressures: the need to control inflation with a higher rate; the need to keep the cost of loans low to encourage business and consumer borrowing; and the strong dollar.
A bank rate increase could push the dollar even higher, hurting exports and jobs. While recognizing that growth is strong, the bank warned Tuesday about economic negatives: "the persistent strength of the Canadian dollar, Canada’s poor relative productivity performance and the low absolute level of U.S. demand."
Although Carney expressed concern about inflation in March, the bank said it is expecting the rate to ease slightly in the second quarter, and remain slightly above the target two per cent rate this year before easing in the second half of 2011.
OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada has yet to officially start hiking interests rates, but already Canadians are feeling the impact of higher borrowing costs.
Analysts say expectations the central bank will boost rates June 1 at the earliest and July 20 at the latest have boosted the Canadian loonie and pushed the big banks to twice raise mortgage rates in the past two weeks.
The loonie has been steadily gaining ground for weeks and Wednesday closed above parity, at 100.08 cents U.S., for the first time in almost two years.But economists warn there is danger in the Bank of Canada moving ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve on hiking rates, even if it is justified by the fundamentals.
“The Bank of Canada is basically going to fly solo,” said Benjamin Tal, an economist with CIBC World Markets.“The markets are already discounting 75, maybe 100 basis points and it’s already in the price of the dollar.”
Canada’s economy has sprinted forward following last year’s recession to record a five per cent advance in the fourth quarter of 2009, and expectations are the first quarter will show an even quicker pace.
More importantly, Canada has recouped nearly half of the total job losses of the downturn, while the United States still struggles with the disappearance of 8.5 million jobs, a decimated housing market and a financial sector still hobbled by an excessive overhang of debt.
In testimony to Congress on Wednesday, Fed chair Ben Bernanke suggested it will be some time before the U.S. starts raising the policy rate from the current near-zero emergency stance.
“The Federal Open Market Committee has stated clearly that they currently anticipate that very low, extremely low rates will be needed for an extended period,” Bernanke told a Congressional committee.
Economists say moving ahead of the U.S. — which is all but certain — could have some beneficial effects, such as cooling what many believe is an overheated housing market by making mortgage costs higher.
But the bigger problem is that higher rates attract more foreign capital into Canada and gives an additional lift to the loonie, something few, except for possibly cross-border shoppers, want.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Wednesday that the strong loonie is a reflection of the relative strength of the Canadian and U.S. economies.
While true, said Liberal critic John McCallum, a former bank economist, there is a risk in raising rates while the U.S. keeps theirs low.
“Then our dollar could get even stronger and that would be really bad for exports and jobs,” he said.
While some analysts have speculated that Canada’s manufacturing sector is no longer as exposed by a strong currency as a decade ago, few disagree with the notion that currency appreciation is a net negative for the economy.
This week’s trade numbers showed the rebound is almost all due to energy, while the goods side registered a $4.4 billion deficit in February.
Carl Weinberg of U.S.-based High Frequency Economists was not impressed.
“You might think that the largest supplier of crude oil to the United States would be able to run a bigger surplus,” said Weinberg. “Blame the strong loonie for a lot of the woes of exporters, especially since so much of what Canada sells is priced in U.S. dollars.”
Given the signals the bank has sent, it would take a major reversal in the recent spate of good economic news, as well as easing inflationary pressures, to stay the central bank’s hand on rates.
However, Sheryl King, chief economist with Merrill Lynch in Canada, says she does not believe governor Mark Carney will get too ahead of the curve and will keep the increases modest.
She says the economy may be hot now, but she sees it cooling in the second half of the year, and Carney putting on his brakes until the Fed shows signs of joining him on the policy tightening track.
Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney is juggling competing economic pressures. (CBC)