Industry News

More rate hikes to come?

Analysts are divided over whether Bank of Canada governor David Dodge will announce another interest rate hike on Tuesday. Following the bank’s last announcement in May, all signs suggested that the bank was done hiking rates. Surprise employment and core inflation numbers, however, may well have upset those odds. Economists Marc Levesque of TD Securities, […]

By Kate McCaffery |July 10, 2006

3 min read

Manulife to shut down Equinox

Manulife Financial has opted to wind down the operations of Equinox Financial Services, an independent support network for managing general agencies and their advisors. “Although Equinox sales results for 2005 were extremely positive, a number of factors led the [Equinox] board to this conclusion, including their long-term financial projections, management and financial commitment required to […]

By Steven Lamb |July 7, 2006

3 min read

Briefly:

(July 7, 2006) The C.D. Howe Institute’s Monetary Policy Council has recommended the Bank of Canada raise interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.5% at its next meeting on July 11. The council of economists and academics was nearly unanimous in its recommendation, with Carleton University’s Nicholas Rowe dissenting by advocating no change to […]

By Staff |July 7, 2006

3 min read

Planning for a potential pandemic

Small, privately-held companies are most at risk if an avian flu pandemic or similar disaster ever materializes. But failure at these firms could significantly impact markets by disrupting supply chains and in some cases unravelling contingency plans made by larger companies. A recent Conference Board survey of 553 global companies found that most companies say […]

By Kate McCaffery |July 7, 2006

3 min read