10 Second Headlines

COVID-19 UPDATE Nearly 500,000 Canadians are deferring their mortgage payments. 10% of the mortgages held by the 6 largest banks have deferred mortgage payments, with an average monthly payment of $1,326 Represents $663 million… Read More

MARCH 27, 2020 ANNOUNCEMENTS Bank of Canada lowered interest rates to from 0.75% to 0.25% this morning in an emergency move. Prime Minister Trudeau announced: covering up to 75% of wages for qualifying small… Read More

ANGUS WATT ADVISORY GROUP’S 7 FACTS TO KEEP IN MIND We always survive a crisis. The world is fighting a war to slow the spread of the virus. Central banks around the world are… Read More

CENTRAL BANK AND GOVERNMENT REPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) Central Bank’s around the world have pledged to ‘proactively’ support the economy as the world deals with the COVID-19 virus. The last time we saw this… Read More

CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) UPDATE China’s Wuhan city had 126 new cases of CoVid-19 on March 5th while there were 0 cases in the rest of the province for the first time since the outbreak. Medical… Read More

ALBERTA BUDGET FEBRUARY 27, 2020 Alberta will cut operational spending by less than 3% in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Alberta’s deficit in the year ending March 2019 will be $7.5 billion down from the… Read More

CANADA Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau is relaxing mortgage qualification rules to make it easier for home buyers to secure financing by setting up a new benchmark interest rate based on actual borrowing costs… Read More

CANADA’S RAIL STRIKE CN Rail has temporarily shut down parts of its network as anti-pipeline protestors are blocking the railways. Over 400 trains have been cancelled this week. Impact of the stoppage is compounding… Read More

NORTH AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT DATA CANADA: added 35,000 jobs (all full time) in January; unemployment rate 5.5% vs 5.4% in December, led by Quebec and Manitoba. Alberta lost 18,900 jobs (mostly part-time); unemployment rate 7.3% vs… Read More

2020 FEDERAL BUDGET – What could be in it? Liberals have a minority government and will need the support of another party. Increased basic exemptions from $12,298 to $13,229 in 2020 and gradually increase… Read More