Economic Indicators

Promises, promises: Education, EI, credit cards

Election promises continued on Tuesday. This time it was the Liberals rolling out the big money programs with a $1-billion post-secondary education plan. Under the Liberals’ Canadian Learning Passport, every high school graduate headed to university, college or CÉGEP would receive $1,000 per year over four years, tax free. For students from low-income families, that […]

By Staff |March 29, 2011

2 min read

Survey: Homeowners need help fighting debt

Canadian homeowners need reinforcements to help in their war against household debt.

By John Powell |March 29, 2011

1 min read

Japan’s crisis energizes commodity markets

Commodity prices have started to shake off the negative impact of Japan’s tragedy as reconstruction efforts get underway, according to a Scotiabank Report. Global energy markets stand to gain as Japan turns to imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil to offset the shortfall in its nuclear capacity, the report said. “Re-construction in Japan […]

By Vikram Barhat |March 29, 2011

3 min read

Currency, not credit, the big risk in European bonds

Canadian investors in global bonds should keep an eye on recent events in Europe, but they shouldn’t lose sleep over the U.K. budget or the fall of Portugal’s government, according to fixed income experts. However bond pundits admit that tight fiscal policies are a negative for currencies. “The bad news is that historically when you […]

By Vikram Barhat |March 25, 2011

3 min read