Well, today’s Canadian jobs report wasn’t too encouraging:
Following increases in January and February, employment held steady in March. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8%.
In the first quarter of 2019, employment rose by 116,000 (+0.6%).
On a year-over-year basis, employment grew by 332,000 (+1.8%), with gains in both full- (+204,000) and part-time (+128,000) work. Over the same period, total hours worked rose by 0.9%.
…
More people were working in the finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing industry, and in public administration. At the same time, employment declined in health care and social assistance; in business, building and other support services; and in accommodation and food services.The number of employees held steady in March in both the public and private sectors. Self-employment was also virtually unchanged.
Both men and women aged 55 and older posted employment gains in March, while core-aged women experienced declines. At the same time, employment held steady for core-aged men and for youth.
… which didn’t do the loonie much good:
The Canadian dollar weakened to a one-week low against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as domestic data showing an unexpected decline in jobs diminished prospects of the Bank of Canada turning more upbeat on the economy.
A six-month string of employment gains, including blockbuster increases in January and February, had helped bolster investor sentiment for the loonie, offsetting weak gross domestic product data and a slowdown in the global economy that could hurt Canada’s exports.
But that sequence ended in March, as Canada shed 7,200 jobs. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a marginal gain of 1,000.
…
Perceived chances of an interest-rate cut this year from the central bank nudged up to 40 per cent from 38 per cent before the data, the overnight index swaps market indicated.
Meanwhile, south of the border:
After an unexpectedly weak February — just 20,000 new jobs were initially reported — concerns arose that the remarkable wave of hiring might be ebbing. But employment surged again last month, beating the expectations of most economists with 196,000 new jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.
Even lowly February looked better: The department revised its report upward to 33,000 jobs. And unemployment remained at 3.8 percent in March, while wage growth kept its momentum, ensuring that pay is growing faster than inflation.
…
For years, even as the economy added jobs and unemployment kept falling, wage increases were lackluster. But employees now appear to be getting solid raises. Hourly wages in March were 3.2 percent higher than a year earlier, slightly lower than the 3.4 percent growth in February but still roughly double the annual inflation rate.
… and Trump continues to lobby the Fed for policy rate cuts and Quantitative Easing:
“Well I personally think the Fed should drop rates,” Mr. Trump said. “I think they really slowed us down. There’s no inflation. I would say in terms of quantitative tightening, it should actually now be quantitative easing. Very little if any inflation. And I think they should drop rates, and they should get rid of quantitative tightening. You would see a rocket ship. Despite that, we’re doing very well.”
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
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| 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 | 0.8847 % | 2,124.3 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.8847 % | 3,898.0 |
| Floater | 5.51 % | 5.77 % | 38,868 | 14.27 | 3 | 0.8847 % | 2,246.4 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0297 % | 3,291.1 |
| SplitShare | 4.86 % | 4.55 % | 83,261 | 3.85 | 8 | 0.0297 % | 3,930.3 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0297 % | 3,066.5 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.53 % | -11.65 % | 87,427 | 0.09 | 10 | 0.2150 % | 2,956.7 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.36 % | 5.41 % | 75,215 | 14.64 | 23 | -0.0168 % | 3,122.1 |
| FixedReset Disc | 5.19 % | 5.25 % | 193,224 | 15.11 | 61 | 0.3336 % | 2,210.0 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.19 % | 5.74 % | 91,188 | 8.16 | 27 | 0.1919 % | 3,089.0 |
| FloatingReset | 4.21 % | 4.08 % | 52,982 | 2.71 | 5 | 0.3242 % | 2,415.9 |
| FixedReset Prem | 5.05 % | 3.52 % | 294,966 | 2.23 | 22 | 0.1286 % | 2,588.8 |
| FixedReset Bank Non | 1.98 % | 3.81 % | 136,116 | 2.72 | 3 | -0.0557 % | 2,639.3 |
| FixedReset Ins Non | 4.95 % | 6.38 % | 112,925 | 8.35 | 22 | 0.3511 % | 2,278.6 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| CM.PR.O | FixedReset Disc | -1.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 18.27 Evaluated at bid price : 18.27 Bid-YTW : 5.29 % |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset Disc | -1.07 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 14.81 Evaluated at bid price : 14.81 Bid-YTW : 5.88 % |
| BAM.PR.X | FixedReset Disc | 1.06 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 14.30 Evaluated at bid price : 14.30 Bid-YTW : 5.68 % |
| TD.PF.I | FixedReset Disc | 1.22 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 22.52 Evaluated at bid price : 23.25 Bid-YTW : 4.92 % |
| PWF.PR.Q | FloatingReset | 1.25 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 14.58 Evaluated at bid price : 14.58 Bid-YTW : 5.70 % |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.30 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2030-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 14.80 Bid-YTW : 8.82 % |
| TRP.PR.B | FixedReset Disc | 1.32 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 12.29 Evaluated at bid price : 12.29 Bid-YTW : 5.69 % |
| SLF.PR.E | Deemed-Retractible | 1.38 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2030-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.35 Bid-YTW : 6.43 % |
| TRP.PR.K | FixedReset Prem | 1.39 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2022-05-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.50 Bid-YTW : 4.42 % |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | 1.50 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 13.50 Evaluated at bid price : 13.50 Bid-YTW : 5.19 % |
| IFC.PR.C | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.58 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2030-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 19.30 Bid-YTW : 7.04 % |
| BAM.PR.Z | FixedReset Disc | 1.73 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 20.55 Evaluated at bid price : 20.55 Bid-YTW : 5.57 % |
| BAM.PR.R | FixedReset Disc | 2.15 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 16.64 Evaluated at bid price : 16.64 Bid-YTW : 5.65 % |
| BAM.PF.E | FixedReset Disc | 2.56 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 18.05 Evaluated at bid price : 18.05 Bid-YTW : 5.73 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| CU.PR.E | Perpetual-Discount | 100,700 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 22.68 Evaluated at bid price : 22.90 Bid-YTW : 5.41 % |
| W.PR.M | FixedReset Prem | 98,800 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2021-10-15 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.60 Bid-YTW : 4.16 % |
| BMO.PR.C | FixedReset Disc | 76,800 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 22.89 Evaluated at bid price : 23.86 Bid-YTW : 5.04 % |
| CU.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | 70,100 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 21.15 Evaluated at bid price : 21.15 Bid-YTW : 5.39 % |
| TD.PF.L | FixedReset Prem | 67,133 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2049-04-05 Maturity Price : 23.32 Evaluated at bid price : 25.53 Bid-YTW : 4.77 % |
| MFC.PR.Q | FixedReset Ins Non | 64,094 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2030-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.00 Bid-YTW : 6.51 % |
| There were 23 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| POW.PR.D | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 22.56 – 23.25 Spot Rate : 0.6900 Average : 0.4092 YTW SCENARIO |
| NA.PR.G | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 22.20 – 23.00 Spot Rate : 0.8000 Average : 0.5760 YTW SCENARIO |
| IAF.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | Quote: 20.99 – 21.60 Spot Rate : 0.6100 Average : 0.3914 YTW SCENARIO |
| IFC.PR.C | FixedReset Ins Non | Quote: 19.30 – 19.84 Spot Rate : 0.5400 Average : 0.3689 YTW SCENARIO |
| BAM.PF.J | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 24.00 – 24.49 Spot Rate : 0.4900 Average : 0.3411 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | Quote: 13.50 – 13.91 Spot Rate : 0.4100 Average : 0.2765 YTW SCENARIO |