Canada’s jobs report was a bit of fizzle today, but that’s actually an improvement over recent releases:
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday showed little improvement in March after a volatile few months that saw employment levels surge and then drop.
The agency said employers collectively added 14,000 jobs in March, roughly in line with economists’ expectations.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7 per cent.
CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham said he was expecting a larger rebound in the March jobs data after January and February cumulatively shed more than 100,000 positions. That has partially offset a rapid run-up in hiring to close out 2025.
…
Average hourly wages across the country, meanwhile, rose 4.7 per cent year-over-year – a jump from 3.9 per cent in February and the fastest pace since October, 2024.StatCan said some of the recent increase in wages is due to the “composition of employment,” meaning the economy isn’t adding or maintaining as many lower-paying jobs that typically pull down the wage growth average.
Controlling for compositional factors leaves average annual wage growth at 3.6 per cent in March, StatCan said, roughly in line with January and February’s figures.
| 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 | 0.1120 % | 2,494.0 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.1120 % | 4,729.1 |
| Floater | 5.81 % | 5.97 % | 24,428 | 13.97 | 4 | 0.1120 % | 2,725.4 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0158 % | 3,658.1 |
| SplitShare | 4.77 % | 4.77 % | 69,062 | 2.90 | 5 | 0.0158 % | 4,368.5 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0158 % | 3,408.5 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.91 % | 4.45 % | 58,361 | 0.08 | 1 | -0.2000 % | 2,995.7 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.77 % | 5.80 % | 49,885 | 14.23 | 34 | -0.3448 % | 3,288.1 |
| FixedReset Disc | 5.84 % | 5.96 % | 107,663 | 13.73 | 27 | 0.4683 % | 3,223.5 |
| Insurance Straight | 5.64 % | 5.70 % | 62,093 | 14.34 | 22 | 0.0612 % | 3,227.2 |
| FloatingReset | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.4683 % | 3,834.7 |
| FixedReset Prem | 6.01 % | 4.51 % | 83,401 | 2.27 | 21 | 0.0258 % | 2,638.3 |
| FixedReset Bank Non | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.4683 % | 3,295.1 |
| FixedReset Ins Non | 5.20 % | 5.41 % | 77,582 | 14.45 | 14 | 0.2666 % | 3,178.7 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| CU.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | -4.68 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 22.12 Evaluated at bid price : 22.40 Bid-YTW : 5.93 % |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | -3.90 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 19.22 Evaluated at bid price : 19.22 Bid-YTW : 5.80 % |
| CU.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | -3.85 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 20.00 Evaluated at bid price : 20.00 Bid-YTW : 5.71 % |
| SLF.PR.C | Insurance Straight | -2.16 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 20.38 Evaluated at bid price : 20.38 Bid-YTW : 5.51 % |
| GWO.PR.I | Insurance Straight | -1.48 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 19.95 Evaluated at bid price : 19.95 Bid-YTW : 5.69 % |
| PWF.PR.P | FixedReset Disc | -1.37 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 20.12 Evaluated at bid price : 20.12 Bid-YTW : 5.80 % |
| BN.PR.B | Floater | -1.14 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 13.05 Evaluated at bid price : 13.05 Bid-YTW : 6.02 % |
| FTS.PR.J | Perpetual-Discount | -1.06 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 21.26 Evaluated at bid price : 21.53 Bid-YTW : 5.58 % |
| GWO.PR.N | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.31 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 18.54 Evaluated at bid price : 18.54 Bid-YTW : 5.84 % |
| BN.PF.C | Perpetual-Discount | 1.35 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 20.29 Evaluated at bid price : 20.29 Bid-YTW : 6.03 % |
| MFC.PR.L | FixedReset Ins Non | 3.96 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 23.33 Evaluated at bid price : 24.95 Bid-YTW : 5.32 % |
| GWO.PR.Y | Insurance Straight | 5.53 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 20.05 Evaluated at bid price : 20.05 Bid-YTW : 5.66 % |
| BN.PF.E | FixedReset Disc | 12.38 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 22.67 Evaluated at bid price : 23.60 Bid-YTW : 5.85 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| ENB.PR.T | FixedReset Disc | 55,200 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 22.76 Evaluated at bid price : 23.60 Bid-YTW : 6.13 % |
| BN.PR.R | FixedReset Disc | 37,000 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 22.09 Evaluated at bid price : 22.70 Bid-YTW : 5.90 % |
| PWF.PR.O | Perpetual-Discount | 23,048 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 24.26 Evaluated at bid price : 24.56 Bid-YTW : 5.91 % |
| BN.PF.M | FixedReset Prem | 20,600 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2031-01-01 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.95 Bid-YTW : 4.81 % |
| FTS.PR.K | FixedReset Disc | 17,745 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 22.89 Evaluated at bid price : 23.80 Bid-YTW : 5.48 % |
| GWO.PR.G | Insurance Straight | 15,608 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-10 Maturity Price : 22.45 Evaluated at bid price : 22.71 Bid-YTW : 5.76 % |
| There were 2 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| See TMX DataLinx: ‘Last’ != ‘Close’ and the posts linked therein for an idea of why these quotes are so horrible. | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| GWO.PR.G | Insurance Straight | Quote: 22.71 – 24.87 Spot Rate : 2.1600 Average : 1.5305 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.Z | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 21.98 – 23.40 Spot Rate : 1.4200 Average : 0.8926 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.T | Insurance Straight | Quote: 22.50 – 25.00 Spot Rate : 2.5000 Average : 2.0499 YTW SCENARIO |
| CU.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 22.40 – 24.06 Spot Rate : 1.6600 Average : 1.2744 YTW SCENARIO |
| CCS.PR.C | Insurance Straight | Quote: 22.52 – 23.50 Spot Rate : 0.9800 Average : 0.6394 YTW SCENARIO |
| CIU.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 20.12 – 21.50 Spot Rate : 1.3800 Average : 1.0433 YTW SCENARIO |