Canadian retail sales in January rose a robust 0.7%, which was slightly stronger than the 0.6% rise expected going into the report. This small upward surprise occurred despite new car sales being much...

The February consumer price report rose a greater than expected 0.4% (UA) in the month. Expectations going into the report were for an increase of 0.3%. This did not prevent the year-over-year rate fr...

The February CPI report suggested very limited inflation pressure in the system along a number of fronts. Overall, prices were unchanged in the month and compared to expectations of a 0.1% rise and a ...

The U.S. consumer price inflation report surprised to the down side, with headline inflation remaining unchanged (up 0.002% M/M at 3 decimal places) in February, and the pace of annual consumer price ...

The Pound strengthened against the Dollar, breaking decidedly above an important level of resistance at the 1.52 area and hitting its highest level versus the US Dollar since February 25th. The cataly...

February producer prices came in weaker than expected dropping 0.6% in the month. Expectations had been for a decline but by a more moderate 0.2%. On a year-over-year basis, prices are still rising by...

Housing starts fell to an annual pace of 575K in February which beat the consensus forecast though it was a 5.9% decline from January's level. While an upward revision to January's data caused the dec...

Housing starts fell 5.9 percent in February as another huge decline in multi-family starts overwhelmed a slight drop in single-family home construction. Starts of apartments and condominiums have been...

Housing starts dropped 5.9% to an annualized 575,000 from a revised 611,000 in January (earlier reported at 591,000). Expectations were for starts to come in at 570,000 units. Permits continued to slo...

Manufacturing sales in January rose a much stronger than expected 2.4% on a month over month basis. Expectations going into the report were for a more modest 0.6% rise in the month. The solid increase...

There is no doubt that financial sector sentiment has been negatively affected by concerns about the risk of a Greek default, which could have a dramatic domino effect. However, market participants' p...

US Industrial Production for the month of February surprised on the upside as we forecasted and came out at 0.1% (Saxo Bank 0.3%) vs. flat (0.0%) expectations. From the report; “The production of cons...

U.S. industrial production rose 0.1% in February, beating market expectations for a flat reading. The increase follows the growth of 0.9% seen in January and continues a string of eight-straight month...

Retail spending in the U.S. in February rose by 0.3%, exceeding market expectations for a decline of 0.2%. The increase was somewhat dampened by January’s gain being revised down to 0.1% from 0.5%. Ex...

Canadian employment rose by 20,900 jobs in February, a slightly stronger gain than forecasts for a more moderate 15,500 rise going into today’s report. The February rise builds on the 43,000 gain repo...

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits declined by 6K to 462K for the week ending March 6th. It was the second weekly drop in a row and can be a sign that the climb in weekly claims ...

Canada's January merchandise trade balance came in better than expected rising to a surplus of $0.8 billion from an upwardly revised balance in December of $0.1 billion (originally reported as a small...

The U.S. trade deficit decreased to -$37.3 billion in January, well above market expectations for an increase to -$41.0 billion. December’s deficit was revised to -$39.9 billion from an initially repo...

Canadian housing starts rose 6.1% to an annualized 196,700 in February from a slightly revised 185,400 (was 185,600) in January. Expectations going into the report had been for a smaller rise to 190,0...

The U.S. labor market dodged a big fat snowball in February, managing to lose only 36K jobs despite a string of major snowstorms that blanketed the nation. When combined with an upward revision of 35K...

The February labour market report provided somewhat better than expected news. Job losses continued during February, but the decline was 36,000, which was less than the median expectation of a 50,000 ...

The ISM non-manufacturing index remained in expansionary territory in February, rising to 53.0, remaining in expansionary territory for the second-consecutive month following the 50.5 reading reported...

The ISM non-manufacturing survey posted a 2.5 point gain to reach 53.0, the highest since October 2007. The underlying details are more clouded - activity and orders are up, but so are prices, and job...

The pace of U.S. manufacturing sector growth eased somewhat in February, with the ISM manufacturing index falling to 56.5 from 58.4. This was well shy of the market consensus for a more modest decline...

U.S. consumer spending advanced by 0.5% M/M in January, following the 0.3% M/M gain the prior month (originally reported as 0.2% M/M), representing the fourth consecutive monthly advance. The January ...

Personal consumer expenditure (PCE) rose 0.5% in January 2010 following December 2009’s 0.3% gain (initially reported as 0.2%). The rise in spending in the month was slightly above market expectations...

After struggling for most of 2009, the Canadian economy came roaring back at the end of the year with fourth-quarter growth rising an annualized 5.0%. Going into the report, expectations had been for ...

Durable goods orders rose by a whopping 3.0% M/M in January, following the upwardly revised 1.9% M/M (previously reported as +0.3% M/M) gain in December. The advance in new orders was twice the market...

Strength in today's report was largely concentrated in a surge in transportation equipment orders (15.6%) in January that was largely driven by an outsized 126% gain in the volatile non-defence aircra...

M3 annual growth improved from -0.3% in December to 0.1% in January while M1 growth declined from 12.3% to 11.5%. This is due mainly to base effects though. Looking at outstanding amounts the picture ...

Consumer confidence fell by the largest amount since last February. Consumers remain concerned about the present situation of the economy as well as the outlook for future growth. We expect modest gai...

The Ifo index surprised with a decline in current conditions and further increases in expectations - resulting in a decline in the overall index. This is the first decline in the overall index in 10 m...

Consumer prices rose 0.2% in January, equalling the increases in December and November. Market expectations going into the report had been for a slightly larger 0.3% rise. Core prices surprisingly fel...

Canadian retail sales rebounded in December by rising 0.4%, which was broadly in line with the 0.5% rise expected going into the report. Excluding the volatile autos and part component, sales also ros...

This is comforting reading. The European rebound remains on track despite the disappointing Q4 GDP data. New orders currently indicate growth of about 2% q/q annualised in Q1 10. German manufacturing ...

The improvement in the current activity index reinforces the notion that conditions for manufacturing activity continue to improve. The new orders index jumped nearly 20 points, signaling a pick up in...

The PPI for total finished goods rose 1.4 percent in January, fueled by an increase in gasoline prices, which rose 11.5 percent on the month. Prescription drug prices rose 1.3 percent. Food prices con...

The Canadian consumer price report for January showed that overall prices rose by an as expected 0.3% in the month, with the year-over-year rate rising to 1.9%, marking the fastest pace since November...

Canadian headline CPI rose 1.9% in January, up from 1.3% in December, the largest increase since November of 2008. Energy prices continued to exert significant upward pressure on prices for a fourth c...

Housing starts activity started 2010 on a firm note, rising 2.8% to an annualized 591,000 from a revised 575,000 in December. The December level was earlier reported at 557,000. Expectations were for ...

Housing starts in the US rose in January to a better than expected 591K annual rate, a sign that the housing market is stabilizing. New construction were up 2.8% and the figure for December was revise...

Canadian manufacturing sales surged 1.6% in December, building solidly on November's unrevised 0.1% gain. The strong rise in December was only slightly below market expectations for a 1.8% gain going ...

ZEW expectations declined to 45.1 in February from 47.2 in January. This is the fifth consecutive decline from a recent peak in September 2009. Overall, financial market experts still expect the econo...

U.S. retail sales rose by a better than expected 0.5% M/M in January, following the 0.1% M/M decline in December (upwardly revised from -0.3% M/M). The advance in sale was ahead of the more modest 0.3...

Retail spending in January rose by 0.5%, beating market forecasts for a 0.3% gain. December's decline was revised to -0.1% from -0.3%, and November's increase was boosted to 2.0% from 1.8%. Excluding ...

The U.S. trade deficit increased to -$40.2 billion in December, contrary to market expectations for narrowing to -$35.8 billion. November's deficit was an unrevised -$36.4 billion. Exports rose by 3.3...

Canada's December merchandise trade balance remained in deficit although showing a minimal deterioration to -$0.246 billion from a revised -$0.201 billion in November (originally reported as -$0.34 bi...

The trade deficit widened to a 12-month high of $40.2 billion in December as imports climbed by $8.4 billion. The $3.6 billion increase in oil imports helped to inflate the overall import figure. Howe...

Canadian housing starts rose 5.8% to an annualized 186,300 in January from a revised 176,100 units in December (previously reported as 177,800). Expectations going into the report had been for a small...

The January labour market report provided a mixed picture going into 2010. Disappointingly, job declines continued into January falling 20,000 in the month with the drop in December deepened to 150,00...