Nearly half of China's major cities are sinking, researchers say
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
With fiscal spending booming and households flush with cash, investors are betting that the Bank of Canada's next tightening cycle, expected to begin in 2022, will result in interest rates climbing above the previous peak for the first time in decades.
In four major tightening cycles since the early 1990s, the Bank of Canada's key interest rate has peaked at a level that was lower than the preceding endpoint.
But that could change in the next cycle, as historic levels of government spending globally raise prospects of an economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis that is more robust than previous recoveries.
The Canadian government is spending C$101 billion ($81 billion), about 5 per cent of GDP, to stimulate the economy over three years, while U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed trillions of dollars of infrastructure spending. Canada sends about 75% of its exports to the United States.
A higher endpoint for rate hikes could give the BoC more firepower to fight the next downturn. It could also spur changes to the economy, raising the incentive to save and invest rather than borrow. Canadians have borrowed heavily in recent years to participate in one of the world's hottest housing markets.
Canada's central bank has signaled that it could begin raising rates from a record low of 0.25 per cent in the second half of next year, well ahead of the 2023 projection from the Federal Reserve.
Swap market data puts the peak of the expected tightening cycle, or the terminal rate, at about 2 per cent in five years, above the previous peak of 1.75 per cent.
"There is a lot more fiscal policy this time ... to me that's the real game changer," said Andrew Kelvin, chief Canada strategist at TD Securities. "Canada, last cycle, was part of a global cycle where no central bank really achieved what they would regard to be neutral rates."
The neutral rate is the level that is expected to be in place when the economy is at full strength and inflation is on target, so it's a signpost of sorts for where rates could go. The BoC's current estimate for the neutral rate is a range of 1.75 per cent to 2.75 per cent.
The central bank has also estimated that Ottawa's support for households during the pandemic combined with reduced spending by Canadians, who endured lengthy lockdowns, boosted savings in 2020 by about $180 billion.
That extra cash is likely to add to consumer spending over the coming decade, which could support a terminal rate that is higher than not only the previous cycle peak but the neutral rate, said Royce Mendes, a senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets.
"All that money has to eventually go somewhere," Mendes said. "It is not just going to sit in the bank accounts of households for decades into the future."
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
The judge presiding over the trial of a man accused of fatally running over a Toronto police officer is telling jurors the possible verdicts they may reach based on the evidence in the case.
A male columnist has apologized for a cringeworthy moment during former University of Iowa superstar and college basketball's highest scorer Caitlin Clark's first news conference as an Indiana Fever player.
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned. The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the 'Shopaholic' book series, has revealed that she is receiving treatment for brain cancer.
Cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to run in the next election as a candidate under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership, amid questions about his rumoured interest in succeeding his longtime friend for the top job.
The United States vetoed a widely backed UN resolution Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.