The effects of heightened inflation and central bank efforts to rein it in by slowing the economy are showing in the second-quarter results from Canada’s big banks. Four out of the Big Five banks have reported earnings that missed expectations as they set aside more money for bad loans, struggle to contain rising costs, and…

Economists from Canada’s major banks predict that the Bank of Canada will hold its key interest rate steady at 4.5 percent on Wednesday, as inflation in the country continues to slow. “After announcing a conditional pause on interest rate hikes in January, the central bank is widely expected to make a second consecutive decision to hold,”…

Commentary In the mid-1970s I was a struggling business and economics student. I paid for my tuition and personal expenses with physically demanding summer and part-time jobs and some student debt. I dreamed of one day working on Canada’s version of Wall Street, which was located in Toronto at the corner of King and Bay…

High interest rates will continue to hold back homebuyers into the new year, except in Ontario and British Columbia, a new report by RBC says. The report released Thursday said those purchasing real estate in Ontario and B.C. in 2023 will hold a stronger hand as conditions in these provinces continue to favour buyers as…

News Analysis As companies work to go green, they are increasingly being called out by dissatisfied environmental groups and thus are becoming more tight-lipped about their climate pledges. Analysis points to growing doubts over ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors and their efficacy in allocating capital, but also concern about the purpose of activists and…

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has changed its forecast, predicting an upcoming recession will arrive sooner than expected. While some say it will be mild and others say it will be full-blown, many economists say that a recession—which is usually defined as two quarterly periods of negative economic growth—is on the horizon for 2023….

Canadians can soon expect the largest housing market correction in over 40 years, the Royal Bank of Canada predicts in a new report. Robert Hogue, an analyst at RBC Economics and the author of the report, said surging inflation has caused RBC to change its former economic forecast to a more severe alternative. “The economic…

The Royal Bank of Canada is predicting a short recession in the Canadian economy in 2023, a prediction economists say is not unreasonable but is also not certain. RBC analysts Nathan Janzen and Claire Fan predicted negative GDP growth of 0.5 percent in the second and third quarters of 2023, which qualifies as a recession—a…

STOCKHOLM—H&M, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, reported a forecast-beating 33 percent increase in March-May profit on Wednesday as shoppers flocked to its stores in the aftermath of the pandemic. The Swedish company reported a pretax profit of 4.78 billion crowns ($471 million) for its fiscal second quarter, up from 3.59 billion a year earlier. Analysts…