The Bank of Canada Slowed the Pace of Monetary Tightening

General Gabriel Da Silva 27 Oct

 

The Governing Council of the Bank of Canada raised its target for the overnight policy rate by 50 basis points today to 3.75% and signalled that the policy rate would rise further. The Bank is also continuing its policy of quantitative tightening (QT), reducing its holdings of Government of Canada bonds, which puts additional upward pressure on longer-term interest rates.

Most market analysts had expected a 75 bps hike in response to the disappointing inflation data for September. Headline inflation has slowed from 8.1% to 6.9% over the past three months, primarily due to the fall in gasoline prices. However, the Bank said that “price pressures remain broadly based, with two-thirds of CPI components increasing more than 5% over the past year. The Bank’s preferred measures of core inflation are not yet showing meaningful evidence that underlying price pressures are easing. Near-term inflation expectations remain high, increasing the risk that elevated inflation becomes entrenched.”

In his press conference, Governor Tiff Macklem said that the Bank chose to reduce today’s rate hike from 75 bps last month (and 100 bps in July) to today’s 50 bps because “there is evidence that the economy is slowing.” When asked if this is a pivot from very big rate increases, Macklem said that further rate increases are coming, but how large they will be is data-dependent. Global factors will also influence future Bank of Canada actions.

“The Bank expects CPI inflation to ease as higher interest rates help rebalance demand and supply, price pressures from global supply disruptions fade, and the past effects of higher commodity prices dissipate. CPI inflation is projected to move down to about 3% by the end of 2023 and then return to the 2% target by the end of 2024.”

The press release concluded with the following statement: “Given elevated inflation and inflation expectations, as well as ongoing demand pressures in the economy, the Governing Council expects that the policy interest rate will need to rise further. Future rate increases will be influenced by our assessments of how tighter monetary policy is working to slow demand, how supply challenges are resolving, and how inflation and inflation expectations are responding. Quantitative tightening is complementing increases in the policy rate. We are resolute in our commitment to restore price stability for Canadians and will continue to take action as required to achieve the 2% inflation target.”

Reading the tea leaves here, the fact that the Bank of Canada referred to ‘increases’ in interest rates in the plural suggests it will not be just one more hike and done.

 

 

Monetary Policy Report (MPR)

The Bank of Canada released its latest global and Canadian economies forecast in their October MPR. They have reduced their outlook across the board. Concerning the Canadian outlook, GDP growth in 2022 has been revised down by about ¼ of a percentage point to around 3¼%. It has been reduced by close to 1 percentage point in 2023 and almost ½ of a percentage point in 2024, to about 1% and 2%, respectively. These revisions leave the level of real GDP about 1½% lower by the end of 2024.

Consumer price index (CPI) inflation in 2022 and 2023 is anticipated to be lower than previously projected. The outlook for CPI inflation has been revised down by ¼ of a percentage point to just under 7% in 2022 and by ½ of a percentage point to about 4% in 2023. The outlook for inflation in 2024 is largely unchanged. The downward revisions are mainly due to lower gasoline prices and weaker demand. Easing global cost pressures, including lower-than-expected shipping costs, also contribute to reducing inflation in 2023. The weaker Canadian dollar partially offsets these cost pressures.

The Bank is expecting lower household spending growth. Consumer spending is expected to contract modestly in Q4 of this year and through the first half of next year. Higher interest rates weigh on household spending, with housing and big-ticket items most affected (Chart below). Decreasing house prices, financial wealth and consumer confidence also restrain household spending. Borrowing costs have risen sharply. The costs for those taking on a new mortgage are up markedly. Households renewing an existing mortgage are facing a larger increase than has been experienced during any tightening cycle over the past 30 years. For example, a homeowner who signed a five-year fixed-rate mortgage in October 2017 would now be faced with a mortgage rate of 1½ to 2 percentage points higher at renewal.

 

 

Housing activity is the most interest-sensitive component of household spending. It provides the economy’s most important transmission mechanism of monetary tightening (or easing). The rise in mortgage rates contributed to a sharp pullback in resales beginning in March. Resales have declined and are now below pre-pandemic levels (Chart below). Renovation activity has also weakened. The contraction in residential investment that began in the year’s second quarter is projected to continue through the first half of 2023, although to a lesser degree. House prices rose by just over 50% between February 2020 and February 2022 and have declined by just under 10%. They are projected by the Bank of Canada to continue to decline, particularly in those markets that saw larger increases during the pandemic.

Higher borrowing costs are affecting spending on big-ticket items. Spending on automobiles, furniture and appliances is the most sensitive to interest rates and is already showing signs of slowing. As higher interest rates work their way through the economy, disposable income growth and the demand for services will also slow. Past experience suggests that the demand for travel, hotels, restaurant meals and communications services will be impacted the most. Household spending strengthens beginning in the second half of 2023 and extends through 2024. Population growth and rising disposable incomes support demand as the impact of the tightening in financial conditions wanes. For example, new residential construction is boosted by strong immigration in markets that are already particularly tight.

Governor Macklem and his officials raised the prospect of a technical recession. “A couple of quarters with growth slightly below zero is just as likely as a couple of quarters with small positive growth” in the first half of next year, the bank said in the MPR.

 

 

Bottom Line

The Bank of Canada’s surprising decision today to hike interest rates by 50 bps, 25 bps less than expected, reflected the Bank’s significant downgrade to the economic outlook. Weaker growth is expected to dampen inflation pressures sufficiently to warrant today’s smaller move.

A 50 bps rate hike is still an aggressive move, and the implications are considerable for the housing market. The prime rate will now quickly rise to 5.95%, increasing the variable mortgage interest rate another 50 bps, which will likely take the qualifying rate to roughly 7.5%.

Fixed mortgage rates, tied to the 5-year government of Canada bond yield, will be less affected. The 5-year bond yield declined sharply today–down nearly 25 bps to 3.42%–with the smaller-than-expected rate hike.

Barring substantial further weakening in the economy or a big move in inflation, I expect the Bank of Canada to raise rates again in December by 25 bps and then again once or twice in 2023. The terminal overnight target rate will likely be 4.5%, and the Bank will hold firm for the rest of the year. Of course, this is data-dependent, and the level of uncertainty is elevated.

 

Dr. Sherry Cooper
Chief Economist, Dominion Lending Centres
drsherrycooper@dominionlending.ca

Fixed mortgage rates are expected to take another step up next week

Latest News Gabriel Da Silva 23 Oct

Fixed mortgage rates are expected to take another step up next week, pushing some 5-year fixed mortgages into 6% territory.

Five-year fixed mortgage rates typically follow the Government of Canada 5-year bond yield, which surged more than 40 basis points over the course of the week—briefly reaching a 14-year high on Friday—before retracing some of the gains.

 

 

Why are bond yields rising?

According to Ryan Sims, a mortgage broker with TMG The Mortgage Group and a former investment banker, markets are reacting to the recent inflation data that came out of Canada and the U.S.

“Both readings were above a level that central banks are comfortable with,” Sims told CMT. That has raised expectations for future interest rate hikes, at least in Canada.

Canada’s Consumer Price Index ticked down to 6.9% in September, which was higher than expected, while core inflation continued to climb. Meanwhile, inflation continued to accelerate south of the border, with overall prices rising 8.2% in September and core inflation, which strips out more volatile items, up 6.6%—the fastest pace in four decades.

However, the sharp pullback in bond yields from their initial highs on Friday came following speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve is set to slow the pace of rate hikes following its November meeting.

“Usually when we see an intra-day move like we have today (without news, central bank speeches, or an “event”), it would signal to me that the top, at least for now, is in,” Sims said.

“This kind of intra-day volatility on any asset class is something that is usually marked by a lower high, and a lower low,” he added. “I’m not saying we see an immediate drop, but a slow march towards lower yields.”

What does it mean for mortgage rates?

Despite the midday pullback in yields, fixed mortgage rates are still expected to march higher by next week.

“Rates will increase next week just based on the large move-up in the last few days,” Sims said. “Uninsured [fixed rates] will start with a 6-handle, and even insured rates could be in the high 5’s without much work. You may get a lender who is trying to buy business that keeps rates in the mid 5’s.”

A number of lenders have already been raising some of their fixed-rated products since last week, including most of the Big 6 banks.

According to data from MortgageLogic.news, the average nationally available deep-discount rate for a 5-year fixed mortgage is now 5.57% (+15 bps since early last week), while insured rates are averaging 5.28% (+15 bps).

“Everyone should also remember that what comes up, can just as easily come down,” Sims added. “Short-term bond yields have started to roll over state-side, and that is signalling that the bond market thinks that maybe the central banks have gone too far and too fast.”

 

Steve Huebl
Steve Huebl is a graduate of Ryerson University’s School of Journalism and has been with Canadian Mortgage Trends and reporting on the mortgage industry since 2009. His past work experience includes The Toronto Star, The Calgary Herald, the Sarnia Observer and Canadian Economic Press. Born and raised in Toronto, he now calls Montreal home.

Bank of Canada Will Not Be Happy With This Inflation Report

Latest News Gabriel Da Silva 19 Oct

 

Canada’s headline inflation rate ticked down slightly last month to 6.9%, but measures of core inflation remain stubbornly high, and food prices hit a 41-year high. Lower gasoline prices were primarily responsible for the decline in inflation in the past three months. Bond markets sold off on the immediate release of the data this morning, taking the 2-year yield on Government of Canada bonds to over 4%. This is the last major data release before the Bank of Canada’s policy rate announcement next Wednesday, October 26, which puts the potential for a 75-bps hike back in play. At the very least, the Bank will take the overnight rate up 50 bps to 3.75%, but I wouldn’t rule out another 75-bps move. Judging from experience, we may see a nod in that direction by Governor Macklem before the Governing Council meets.

Excluding food and energy, prices rose 5.4% year-over-year (y/y) in September, following a gain of 5.3% in August. Prices for durable goods, such as furniture and passenger vehicles, grew faster in September compared with August. In September, the Mortgage Interest Cost Index continued to put upward pressure on the all-items CPI Canadians renewed or initiated mortgages at higher interest rates.

Monthly, the CPI rose 0.1% in September. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI was up 0.4%.
Average hourly wages rose 5.2% on a year-over-year basis in September, meaning that, on average, prices rose faster than wages. The gap in September was larger compared with August.

In September, prices for food purchased from stores (+11.4%) grew faster year-over-year since August 1981 (+11.9%). Prices for food purchased from stores have increased faster than the all-items CPI for ten consecutive months since December 2021.

Contributing to price increases for food and beverages were unfavourable weather, higher prices for essential inputs such as fertilizer and natural gas, and geopolitical instability stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Food price growth remained broad-based in September. On a year-over-year basis, Canadians paid more for meat (+7.6%), dairy products (+9.7%), bakery products (+14.8%), and fresh vegetables (+11.8%), among other food items.

 

 

 

Bottom Line

Price pressures might have peaked, but today’s data release will not be welcome news for the Bank of Canada. There is no evidence that core inflation is moderating despite the housing and consumer spending slowdown. The average of the Bank’s favourite measure of core inflation remains stuck at 5.3%. Combined with the Governor’s recent harsh rhetoric, the high probability that the Fed will hike rates 75 bps at the next Federal Open Market Committee Meeting and the weak Canadian dollar, there is no doubt the Bank will increase their overnight policy target to at least 3.75%, and could well go the full 75 bps to 4.0% next week. I would bet that they will not quit there, with further hikes to come in December and next year by central banks worldwide.

The Government of Canada yield curve is now steeply inverted, reflecting the widely held expectation that the economy is slowing. The prime rate will increase sharply next week, increasing variable mortgage rates again. Fixed mortgage rates will rise as well, but not by as much, continuing a pattern we’ve seen since March when the Bank of Canada began the current tightening cycle. We are unlikely to see a pivot to lower rates in the next year as inflation pressures remain very sticky.

 

Dr. Sherry Cooper
Chief Economist, Dominion Lending Centres
drsherrycooper@dominionlending.ca

Rising Interest Rates!

Latest News Gabriel Da Silva 7 Oct

 

Forty-Three Years Ago, I Was Fed Chair Paul Volcker’s Special Assistant
Inflation appears to be book-ending my career. I started my work as an economist in the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., in the late 1970s. Inflation had been trending higher for years. Neither Arthur Burns nor G. William Miller, the Fed chairmen preceding Volcker, had the fortitude to raise interest rates sufficiently and keep them there long enough to reduce inflation to a low sustainable pace. Paul Volcker pulled it off–for which he was personally vilified at the time. But since then, Paul Volcker has become a legend, esteemed as the central banker whose brute-force campaign subdued inflation for decades.
You can see in the chart below that in late 1979, the Volcker Fed hiked the overnight policy rate to levels well above the inflation rate and kept real interest rates (nominal rate minus inflation rate) positive for an extended period. 

The current Fed Chair, Jay Powell, has expressed deep admiration for Paul Volcker, calling him “the greatest economic public servant of the era.” Last month, Powell alluded to his predecessor’s record of persistence, saying that policymakers “will keep at it until the job is done” — invoking Volcker’s memoir, “Keeping at It.”

The Bank of Canada was no slouch on the inflation front as well. As the chart shows, the Bank hiked interest rates in lockstep with the Fed in the Volcker years and even more in the early 1990s when Ottawa was fighting Canadian budgetary red ink to the ground.

This time around, Tiff Macklem has been ahead of the Fed in hiking interest rates and, in a speech on Thursday, said that the economy is still “clearly” in excess demand, with businesses facing an extremely tight labour market, wage gains broadening and underlying inflation pressures showing no signs of letting up. Macklem said that the sources of inflation, which started with goods prices, are broadening to the service sector. “. Labour markets remain very tight. Job vacancies have eased a little in recent months but remain exceptionally high. Our business surveys report widespread labour shortages. And wage growth has risen and continues to broaden.”

“With demand running ahead of supply, competition is posing less of a restraint on price increases, and businesses are passing through higher input costs more quickly. As a result, higher energy and material costs are showing up in the prices of a growing list of goods and services. So even if there is some relief at the gas pumps, price pressures remain high and continue to broaden. In August, the prices of more than three-quarters of the goods and services that make up the CPI were rising faster than 3%.”

Macklem continued, “As we look for a more fundamental turning point in inflation, measures of core inflation are becoming increasingly relevant…after taking out volatile components in the CPI that don’t reflect generalized changes in prices, inflation is running about 5%. That’s too high. We can also see that our core measures have yet to decline meaningfully even though total CPI inflation has come down in the last couple of months. Going forward, we will be watching our measures of core inflation closely for clear evidence of a turning point in underlying inflation.” In conclusion, the governor said, “there is more to be done….We know we are still a long way from the 2% target. We know it will take some time to get there. We also know there could be setbacks along the way, and we can’t afford to let high inflation become entrenched.” 

 

So given the clear statements by the Fed and the Bank of Canada, it makes no sense why Bay Street economists are betting that the overnight rate in Canada will peak at around 4% by yearend. They are still forecasting a decline in short-term interest rates next year due to a slowdown in economic activity. I don’t buy that.There are many views on how far the central banks will have to hike rates from here, but the critical issue is to reach a point where rates are meaningfully restrictive. A rule of thumb is that the overnight policy rate must rise to exceed the inflation rate. Fed Chairman Powell has said that he believes that real interest rates should be positive across the yield curve. Today, long and short US rates are still the lowest compared to inflation since the Burns era in the mid-1970s. (see chart below). Traders are betting that the US overnight rate will rise another 125 basis points (bps) by yearend and continue to rise next year to a median estimate of 4.6%.

Chair Powell has clarified that he is willing to tolerate much slower growth. As Bloomberg economists suggest, “Canada is seen having both faster growth and lower interest rates over the next three years — a peculiar mix of economic outcomes that assumes the country is more buffered from global headwinds — including a potential US recession — but won’t face the same pressure to match the Fed higher.”Short-term money markets are betting the Bank of Canada will stop its hiking cycle at about 4%, versus a Fed benchmark rate peaking at about 4.6% and remaining below US short-term rates for at least another three years.This is especially unreasonable given the fall in the Canadian dollar, which is now trading at US$0.728 compared to US$0.814 one year ago. This depreciation reflects the inordinate strength of the US dollar–the global safe-haven currency in a time of enormous uncertainty and volatility. The Canadian dollar has fared far better than other G-7 countries over this period. But the decline in our currency will raise the prices of the many US products and services we import, adding to inflation.Inverted Yield CurvesIn Canada and the US, 2-year yields have risen sharply to levels well above 5-year yields. As of October 6, the 2-year Government of Canada bond yield is at 4.0% compared to the 5-year yield at 3.49% and the 10-year yield at 3.31%. This implies the markets expect a slowdown in economic activity, but that does not mean that the overnight policy rate will fall in 2023 as Bay Street expects, especially if core inflation remains well above 2%. The Canadian prime rate is currently 5.45%, well above the 5-year yield of 3.49%. When the Bank of Canada Governing Council meets again on October 26, it will likely raise the policy rate by at least 50 bps to 3.75%, taking the prime rate up to 5.95% or higher—clearly improving the relative attractiveness of fixed-rate mortgage loans.

 

Bottom Line

For most of my readers, inflation is a brand-new experience, and so are rising interest rates. Inflation in Canada was at 2.2% when the pandemic began, and the 5-year bond yield was a mere 1.3%. Quickly the central bank cut the overnight rate from 1.75% to 0.25%, the prime rate fell from 3.95% to 2.45%, and the 5-year bond yield fell to a low of about 0.32%. Housing demand exploded and continued strong until it peaked in February 2022 when the Bank of Canada began to hike interest rates.Interest rates will not fall to pre-pandemic levels next year or even the year after. And we will likely never see interest rates at pandemic levels again, at least I hope not, because it would take another global economic shutdown. Hence, mortgage-borrower psychology will change. Many more homeowners will choose to lock in fixed interest rates, and by the time this is over, a new generation will realize that interest rates don’t just fall but sometimes rise to levels higher than expected and stay there longer than expected—a painful lesson to learn.

Dr. Sherry Cooper
Chief Economist, Dominion Lending Centres
drsherrycooper@dominionlending.ca

Staffing Shortages

Latest News Gabriel Da Silva 7 Oct

 

Tight Labour Market Fuels Higher Wages
Today’s Labour Force Survey showed that employment grew in September for the first time in four months. Job gains remained moderate despite the high number of vacancies, indicating how tight the job market remains. Wage rates rose 5.2% year-over-year (y/y), the fourth consecutive month for which wage gains exceeded 5%. The jobless rate ticked downward, retracing some of the rise posted in August.

Canada added just over 21,000 jobs last month, with both full-time and part-time work increasing. Gains in educational services, health care, and social assistance were offset by losses in manufacturing; information, culture and recreation; transportation and warehousing, and public administration.

Employment increased in four provinces, led by British Columbia, while fewer people were working in Ontario and Prince Edward Island.

Total hours worked were down 0.6% in September 2022. Despite declining by 1.1% since June, total hours worked were up 2.4% y/y.

In separate news, the US employment data for September was also released today, showing a moderate dip in job growth from the August data, although the gains remained strong. The jobless rate fell to 3.5% from 3.7% a month earlier. The persistent strength in hiring underscored the challenges facing the Federal Reserve as it tries to curtail job growth enough to tame inflation.

Bottom Line

Today’s labour force data in Canada and the US do nothing to deter the central banks from their rate-hiking paths. This is the last employment report before their decision dates–October 26th for the Bank of Canada and November 2nd for the Fed–although we will see the release of inflation and housing data before they meet again. It is already baked into the cake that rate hikes will continue.

Both central banks recently cautioned against market expectations that the fight against inflation was nearly over. Today’s data reinforce what we have already been told.

 

 
Dr. Sherry Cooper
Chief Economist, Dominion Lending Centres
drsherrycooper@dominionlending.ca