Canada recorded its strongest wage growth in six years in April, giving the Bank of Canada more evidence that the country’s job market is robust. But don’t expect the central bank to raise interest rates just yet.
The average hourly wage climbed 3.6 per cent to $27.02 over April of last year, according to Statistics Canada’s monthly jobs report released on Friday. That’s the biggest increase since the fall of 2012, when soaring oil prices fuelled a labour shortage and spike in wages in Alberta.
…
Over all, the labour market has been strong for the past year and a half, even with the net loss of 1,100 part time jobs in April. The economy created 28,800 full-time positions and eliminated 30,000 part-time positions. Over the year, employers have added 278,300 new jobs.The unemployment rate remained at 5.8 per cent, a level first touched in December. Before that, the last time the rate was that low was in October, 2007
FINTRAC is attempting to boost the career prospects of its employees:
Experts are raising red flags about Canada’s securities industry, saying it is increasingly susceptible to money laundering. Yet despite numerous warnings from regulatory agencies, data obtained by The Globe and Mail show that many of the country’s securities dealers are not meeting federal rules aimed at rooting out financial crime – leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by criminals looking to hide dirty money.
Statistics tell an alarming tale. Canada’s anti-money-laundering agency, Fintrac, examined more than 250 of the country’s 3,000 or so securities dealers over the past five years and found what it calls “significant” shortcomings in the firms’ controls nearly half the time, the data revealed.
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The federal Department of Finance is currently reviewing Canada’s anti-money-laundering regime, as it’s required to do every five years.
As I said on November 23, 2015:
According to John Allison (who ran the BB&T bank with distinction through the Credit Crunch) the US “Patriot Act” costs US banks over $5-billion annually and “there has never been a single terrorist caught and convicted because of the Patriot Act.” Instead, the Patriot Act has enabled government snooping that, so far, has achieved success in nailing Eliot Switzer (a guy who hired prostitutes) and Dennis Hastert (a blackmail victim desperate to pay his blackmailer). Oh, very well done and well worth $5-billion per year.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
|||||||
| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.8836 % | 2,974.0 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.8836 % | 5,457.1 |
| Floater | 3.36 % | 3.57 % | 86,377 | 18.32 | 4 | -0.8836 % | 3,145.0 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0633 % | 3,160.0 |
| SplitShare | 4.60 % | 4.69 % | 82,004 | 5.03 | 5 | -0.0633 % | 3,773.7 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0633 % | 2,944.4 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.62 % | -5.99 % | 67,304 | 0.09 | 10 | -0.0197 % | 2,871.5 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.42 % | 5.45 % | 63,745 | 14.71 | 24 | -0.0054 % | 2,943.6 |
| FixedReset | 4.27 % | 4.67 % | 165,447 | 3.97 | 103 | -0.0105 % | 2,547.2 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.11 % | 5.57 % | 81,759 | 5.59 | 27 | 0.2302 % | 2,954.8 |
| FloatingReset | 3.08 % | 3.46 % | 30,395 | 3.55 | 8 | 0.0513 % | 2,796.8 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| MFC.PR.G | FixedReset | -3.31 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.95 Bid-YTW : 5.31 % |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | -2.17 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-05-11 Maturity Price : 20.75 Evaluated at bid price : 20.75 Bid-YTW : 2.90 % |
| HSE.PR.C | FixedReset | -1.73 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-05-11 Maturity Price : 24.06 Evaluated at bid price : 24.40 Bid-YTW : 5.44 % |
| PWF.PR.Q | FloatingReset | -1.22 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-05-11 Maturity Price : 21.09 Evaluated at bid price : 21.09 Bid-YTW : 3.36 % |
| SLF.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | 1.06 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 22.80 Bid-YTW : 6.57 % |
| TRP.PR.E | FixedReset | 1.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-05-11 Maturity Price : 22.81 Evaluated at bid price : 23.24 Bid-YTW : 4.89 % |
| TRP.PR.H | FloatingReset | 1.32 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-05-11 Maturity Price : 16.85 Evaluated at bid price : 16.85 Bid-YTW : 3.74 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| TRP.PR.J | FixedReset | 184,581 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2021-05-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.42 Bid-YTW : 3.91 % |
| BMO.PR.M | FixedReset | 159,900 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.84 Bid-YTW : 4.00 % |
| TD.PF.G | FixedReset | 106,900 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2021-04-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.44 Bid-YTW : 3.52 % |
| RY.PR.Z | FixedReset | 68,739 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-05-11 Maturity Price : 22.86 Evaluated at bid price : 23.40 Bid-YTW : 4.68 % |
| CM.PR.Q | FixedReset | 67,003 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2020-07-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.66 Bid-YTW : 4.32 % |
| TRP.PR.C | FixedReset | 58,600 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2048-05-11 Maturity Price : 17.50 Evaluated at bid price : 17.50 Bid-YTW : 5.08 % |
| There were 15 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| PWF.PR.Q | FloatingReset | Quote: 21.09 – 25.00 Spot Rate : 3.9100 Average : 3.4574 YTW SCENARIO |
| TRP.PR.F | FloatingReset | Quote: 20.09 – 21.09 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.5625 YTW SCENARIO |
| MFC.PR.G | FixedReset | Quote: 23.95 – 24.79 Spot Rate : 0.8400 Average : 0.4593 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | Quote: 20.75 – 21.48 Spot Rate : 0.7300 Average : 0.4678 YTW SCENARIO |
| HSE.PR.C | FixedReset | Quote: 24.40 – 24.98 Spot Rate : 0.5800 Average : 0.3508 YTW SCENARIO |
| RY.PR.M | FixedReset | Quote: 24.35 – 24.95 Spot Rate : 0.6000 Average : 0.3744 YTW SCENARIO |