Business

OTTAWA -- The Bank of Canada slashed its key interest rate target by half a percentage point, dropping it to 1.25 per cent in what economists saw as a rapid response to the growing economic shock from the novel coronavirus outbreak. The central bank said Wednesday that it cut its target for the overnight rate because COVID-19, as the virus is named, was "a material negative shock" to Canada's already...

The Bank of Canada resisted pressure from investors by declining to signal it will soon follow global peers in easing monetary policy. At a decision Wednesday, policy makers left interest rates unchanged for a seventh straight meeting and said stronger than expected growth, as well as inflation on target, means current levels of stimulus are where they should be. That’s despite the escalating trade...

You might want to hang onto that condo after all. Despite years of doom and gloom forecasts about the condo market being ready for a tumble, prices in the Greater Toronto Area have risen more than nine per cent in the last year, according to a new study being released Wednesday. The report found that the median price per square foot of condos in the GTA rose to $743 over the past year, a jump...

The US central bank just cut interest rates — so what do Canadian policymakers do next? It’s your move, Canadian policymakers. Last month, the US Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent. The last time the Fed trimmed its target was 2008, when the American economy was in the grips of the Great Recession. Typically,...

Sales in the Toronto housing market have so far decreased in 2018, but some market watchers are optimistic that a spring recovery will take place. The most recent figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board look grim compared to the euphoria that pulled through the market in early 2017, says Cameron Forbes, general manager of ReMax Realtron Realty Inc. "We had an artificial market from January to January,...