Markets on Thursday were up modestly as were most of our stocks with no big moves either way. Oil is a bit over $49.
Canadian Western Bank’s earnings report must have been about as expected as the stock did not move on the news.
National Bank is out with a rate reset at 5.4% and will reset after five years at the five year Canada rate plus 4.66%. This is interesting because it is I am fairly sure, a good bit below what was paid on these rate reset shares at the peak a few months ago. Perhaps a sigh that interest rates will finally start to rise. This would also indicate that concerns about National Bank’s loan losses are not too serious.
The Canada five year bond is at 0.72% and recently about stable but above lows of a few months ago at about 0.5%.
Statistics Canada reports that investment in residential construction (includes renovations) was up about 11% in Ontario and 10% in B.C. but down 16% in Alberta. That is really not a huge decline for Alberta considering the energy price drops but this does include both renovations and new construction.