Zerohedge
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Kitchen sinks are just flying everywhere these days.
While the Bank of Canada kept its overnight rate at 0.25% as expected – as the alternative after three consecutive rate cuts would have been to cut below its effective lower bound of 0.25% and go NIRP – the central bank – which announced that the outlook is too uncertain at this point to provide a complete forecast – did surprise markets by joining the unprecedented QE bandwagon, when it announced that just like the Fed it would launch $10BN corporate QE (just investment grade for now, thank you, junk bonds coming next), while throwing in $50BN provincial QE to boot. It also
The Bank is also announcing today the development of a new Provincial Bond Purchase Program of up to $50 billion, to supplement its Provincial Money Market Purchase Program. Further, the Bank is announcing a new Corporate Bond Purchase Program, in which the Bank will acquire up to a total of $10 billion in investment grade corporate bonds in the secondary market. Both of these programs will be put in place in the coming weeks. Finally, the Bank is further enhancing its term repo facility to permit funding for up to 24 months.
These measures will work in combination to ease pressure on Canadian borrowers. As containment restrictions are eased and economic activity resumes, fiscal and monetary policy actions will help underpin confidence and stimulate spending by consumers and businesses to restore growth. The Bank’s Governing Council stands ready to adjust the scale or duration of its programs if necessary. All the Bank’s actions are aimed at helping to bridge the current period of containment and create the conditions for a sustainable recovery and achievement of the inflation target over time.
Also similar to the Fed, which in its last statements and minutes “forgot” to provide forecast, the bank said that “the outlook is too uncertain at this point to provide a complete forecast.” However, Bank analysis of alternative scenarios suggests the level of real activity was down 1-3 percent in the first quarter of 2020, and will be 15-30 percent lower in the second quarter than in fourth-quarter 2019. CPI inflation is expected to be close to 0 percent in the second quarter of 2020. This is primarily due to the transitory effects of lower gasoline prices.
Separately, the Bank said it will continue to purchase at least $5 billion in Government of Canada securities per week in the secondary market, and will increase the level of purchases as required to maintain proper functioning of the government bond market. Also, the Bank is temporarily increasing the amount of Treasury Bills it acquires at auctions to up to 40 percent, effective immediately.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bank-canada-announces-provincial-corporate-qe
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Yup, Corona will not bring this financial mess down. Not yet.
Btw, The Duran is censoring/deleting comments.
Who is deleting vote counts and comments on this page? Has the Duran site been hacked? All comments on 4 to 5 articles were deleted. The count numbers were deleted. And plenty of dumb stuff nobody wants to read has been placed in. Who – for heaven’s sake – is doing this? Where is the editor, Alex Christoforou?
TASS: Coronavirus death toll in Canada exceeds 1,000 — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Canada exceeded 28,200 — OTTAWA, April 15. /TASS/. The death toll from coronavirus-associated illnesses and complications in Canada has reached 1,006, CTV television channel reported on Wednesday. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country exceeded 28,200, while over 8,900 people recovered. Most fatalities were reported in Quebec province (487). The first coronavirus case in Canada was registered on January 15. Twelve out of thirteen Canadian provinces have been affected, with an exception of Nunavut. Many Canadian provinces declared state of emergency over… Read more »
Poor Canada, she died a slow painful death after that fake “CONservative” Stephen Harper came in & stunk the whole place up followed by “pretty boy” Trudope who is waaay over his head as a former Drama teacher. I really miss the humble French-Canadian PM, Jean Chretien, who refused to take part in destroying Iraq over the fake Sept11 psyop. Now the country is awash in debt considering its small sheep population of only 37 million. Unbelievable! Canada’s insane Federal Debt trajectory: [amounts calculated on January 1st of each year] 1960: $10.7 Billion; 1965: $13.9B; 1970: $ 15.3B; 1975: $20.9B;… Read more »