These are stories Report on Business is following Tuesday, March 18, 2014.
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Dollar sinks
Stephen Poloz managed to knock the Canadian dollar below 90 cents over the course of one speech today with a generally weak outlook for the economy.
At least he didn't lack humour as he painted a picture of lagging economic growth.
Here's how he began his talk to the Halifax Chamber of Commerce: "Happy belated St. Patrick's Day. I hope everyone's feeling fine. I want to speak today about a different kind of headache: the prolonged lacklustre economic growth we are experiencing, here in Canada, but also globally."
The loonie, as Canada's dollar coin is known, was at 90.5 cents when the Bank of Canada posted the governor's speech on its website, noted chief currency strategist Camilla Sutton of Bank of Nova Scotia.
Within a few minutes, it slipped to 90.2 cents. And by the time he had finished a question-and-answer session, during which he said he couldn't rule out the possibility of an interest rate cut, the loonie was down to 89.75 cents.
It weakened further from there before picking up just slightly late in the day.
"The overall tone wasn't encouraging," Ms. Sutton said of the governor's speech, which markets might have seen coming given that the title of the talk was "redefining the limits to growth."
As The Globe and Mail's Tavia Grant reports, Mr. Poloz told the audience that changing demographics and the holdover from the financial crisis are holding back the economy.
" While many were expecting neutral commentary that was to have little impact on the loonie, Poloz's words couldn't have been any more negative for the loonie," said Rahim Madhavji of Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange in Toronto.
"Commenting that growth is expected to be softer than expected, partly due to weather, but indicating that deeper analysis is required. Moreover, he also indicates inflation is expected to be soft in February."
In a new forecast late yesterday, BMO Nesbitt Burns projected the loonie would weaken further to average just shy of 87 cents cents by mid-2014, before picking up to trade at about 90 cents by the end of the year.
- Tavia Grant: Slower growth may be new norm as population ages: Poloz
- Oh, just let Quebec have the loonie. It's only worth 90 cents, after all
Flaherty quits cabinet
Canada's finance minister is leaving politics to return to the private sector.
As The Globe and Mail's Bill Curry reports, Jim Flaherty announced his decision late today.
Mr. Flaherty's departure means that the two officials who steered Canada through the financial crisis – the finance minister and former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney – are no longer at the helm.
Mr. Carney, who left for the Bank of England, was replaced by Mr. Poloz. Now, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is poised to pick Mr. Flaherty's successor.
Mr. Flaherty's fiscal policy has been generally praised world-wide, and Canada is just one of a handful of countries that still boasts a triple-A rating.
Mr. Flaherty also moved forcefully, several times, to head off a housing bubble.
Over a barrel
While the Ukraine crisis promises to escalate, analysts believe all sides will hold back from using the "oil weapon."
The United States and Europe unveiled a package of "sanctions-lite" yesterday, as The Globe and Mail's Joanna Slater and Eric Reguly report from New York and London.
Seen as modest, the moves are aimed at Russian and Ukrainian officials, rather than blunt economic measures.
While there may well be further sanctions, observers believe the governments involved will stay away from the crucial oil market.
"The crisis is far from over," said Michael Wittner of Société Générale's commodities group.
"The key point for the oil markets is that, in sharp contrast to Iran, Europe and Russia have a gun to each other's head which should prevent either side from using the oil weapon and stopping oil trade flows," he added in a report.
Based on last year's data from the International Energy Agency, Mr. Wittner noted that Russian oil accounted for 36 per cent of net crude imports to OECD countries in Europe last year. When you add in other energy products such as natural gas liquids, that rises to 44 per cent.
Look at it the other way: Shipments of oil to those countries accounted for 71 per cent of Russia's crude exports.
"If Europe is heavily dependent on Russia, Russia is even more dependent on Europe," said Mr. Wittner.
"Europe needs the oil and Russia needs the money," he added.
"So logic and rational reasoning strongly argue that neither the Europeans (backed by the U.S.) nor the Russians should use the oil weapon, because the self-inflicted pain would be as bad as the pain inflicted on the side. Of course, history is full of examples where conflicts escalated because of emotion, miscalculation, and bad intelligence."
The strategic reserves of IEA countries, Mr. Wittner noted, could last a year at a "drawdown rate" equivalent to the amount of oil Europe imports from Russia.
"That is a lot of reserves … but there are also many other potential disruptions out there."
- Joanna Slater: Markets unfazed by U.S. sanctions
- Eric Reguly: Russia dismisses sanctions, gambles energy needs will weaken EU resolve
- Kathryn Blaze Carlson: Canada joins U.S. with sanctions on 'Putin regime,' warns of more
- Mark MacKinnon: Defiant Putin says Crimea an 'inseparable part' of Russia
- Brian Milner in ROB Insight (for subscribers): Threat of sanctions against Russia might be enough
Toll mounts
The economic toll from a labour dispute at Vancouver's port is mounting.
Now, Bloomberg reports, northern Alberta pulp mills might have to suspend business temporarily because of the walkout by truckers at Port Metro Vancouver.
"In the latter part of this week we would expect our operations to be impacted," James Gorman, the chief of the Council of Forest Industries, told the news agency, referring to the backlog.
"Probably we would take down northern Alberta operations first."
The strike has been ongoing for several weeks now.
Factory sales climb
Canada's factories scored an impressive gain in January as sales climbed 1.5 per cent, marking the biggest increase in almost a year.
There's more beneath the surface, however: This came as inventories rose across the board by 3.6 per cent, Statistics Canada said today, and actual volumes accounted for less than half of the increase.
Notable was the 6.7-per-cent rise in inventories in the aerospace and related parts sectors, the fastest increase since the summer of 2012. That was partly because the bulk of inventories in that industry are in U.S. dollars, which rose against the Canadian currency, the federal agency said.
Sales rose in 12 of 21 industries measured.
"Still, when put in the context of the dive in real shipments in December, we're still below November levels, and for that matter, real manufacturing shipments are also below levels reached in early 2012. The weaker C$ has helped more on prices (translating goods priced in US$ terms into more C$s) than on volumes thus far. One good month does not a trend make, at least not yet."
The inventory-to-sales ratio climbed to 1.42 in January from December's 1.39, while unfilled orders increased by 4.8 per cent, again largely due to the aerospace industry.
"A good deal of the January bump was price related, but real volumes were up a solid 0.7 per cent, and nominal shipments were up in most categories," said chief economist Avery Shenfeld of CIBC World Markets.
- Factory sales rise 1.5% in January
- Tavia Grant: Shifting demographics, crisis hangover hitting economy: Poloz
Inflation tame
The U.S. central bank began a two-day meeting today just as a fresh reading showed there's nothing by the way of inflation to move the needle.
On a monthly, seasonally-adjusted basis, consumer prices in the United States inched up 0.1 per cent in February from January, leaving an annual inflation rate of just 1.1 per cent, down from 1.6 per cent in January, our Washington correspondent Kevin Carmichael reports.
So-called core prices, which strips out volatile items and helps guide the Federal Reserve, increased 1.6 per cent.
When the Fed's meeting ends tomorrow, the central bank is expected to announce another cutback in its bond-buying stimulus program.
- Kevin Carmichael: Tame reading on U.S. inflation eases doubts about Fed's path
- Kevin Carmichael: Fed to become a bit trickier to read
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