Need To Know News Blog

BoE MPC votes 9-0 to keep interest rate at 0.5%; no change in QE programme

Alex Brittain — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:30:04 +0000

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee voted unanimously to hold interest rates unchanged at 0.5% and also to continue with the announced programme of asset purchases this month.

The minutes for the September meeting of the monetary policy committee said “in the absence of significant news about the medium term the case for adjusting the programme now was outweighed by the benefits of following through with the programme of asset purchases announced in August”.

But the minutes also made clear that some MPC members who had preferred a larger dose of stimulus in August still believed that a larger asset purchase programme could be justified.

The asset purchase programme was increased at the beginning of August by 50 bln sterling to 175 bln.

Elsewhere, the minutes said the outlook for the medium term had not changed markedly since August. It added that there was “a possibility that the recovery in asset prices and confidence could mark the start of a virtuous upward spiral for the economy”.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) Will Close 4 Coal Burning Power Generating Units Next Year

Peter Burnside — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:00:07 +0000

OPG will close two of eight coal-burning units at its Nanticoke station near Simcoe and two of four units at its Lambton plant near Sarnia by October, 2010, reports The Globe and Mail.

Suncor Expected To Cut 1000 Jobs After Merger With Petro-Canada

Peter Burnside — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:00:06 +0000

Canada Mortgage And Housing Corp. Sees Housing Starts To Reach 141.9k In ‘09 And 150k In ‘10

Peter Burnside — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:00:06 +0000

JUNE CANADIAN WHOLESALE SALES INCREASE 0.6%

Farah Ragheb — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:30:01 +0000

Inventories m/m: -1.1%
Sales m/m: 0.6%
Sales Ex-Autos : 0.1%

Canadian Wholesale sales jumped 0.6% to C$40.4bln in June from a revised 0.2% slide earlier (previously reported as a 0.3% fall), meeting the consensus estimate and marked the first increase in 9 months. The rise in sales was primarily due to increases in the automotive products (up 3.3%) and food,beverages and tobacco products (up 1.8%) sectors. The automotive sector posted its fifth straight increase since the plunge in January, reported Statscan. Wholesale inventories dropped 1.1% to C$56.5bln in June, marking the fourth consecutive monthly slide. This was led by a 12.9% plunge in Farm products and a 5.7% fall in the motor vehicles sector.
In terms of volume, wholesale sales rose 1%, the third consecutive monthly increase.
Ex-Autos, June sales edged up 0.1% from a 0.3% retreat prior.
Inventory to sales ratio decreased to 1.40 from 1.42.

UK JULY M4 +1.0% M/M, +13.6% Y/Y - BOE

Alex Brittain — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:30:10 +0000

UK MAJOR LENDERS REPORT WEAK NET LENDING CONTINUED INTO JULY - BOE

Alex Brittain — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:30:09 +0000

UK JUNE LENDING TO BUSINESSES -0.2% Y/Y, WEAKEST ON RECORD VS +0.1% IN JUNE - BOE

Alex Brittain — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:30:09 +0000

UK MAJOR LENDERS REPORT NO FURTHER RISE IN APPETITE TO LEND AT HIGH LTVS

Alex Brittain — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:30:09 +0000

Update: UK M4 accelerates in July but M4 lending growth slips

Alex Brittain — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:30:09 +0000

The UK’s M4 money supply accelerated in July, the Bank of England said, while M4 lending growth contracted to a near-seven-year low.

M4, a broad measure of the money supply, grew by 1% in July from June, reversing that month’s 0.3% decline and marking the fastest monthly rate of expansion since January.

Annual M4 grew 13.6%, up from the prior month’s 13.3% though that was downwardly revised from an initially reported 13.8%.

M4 lending, though, saw a smaller rate of growth. M4 lending, excluding securitizations, grew 9.6% on the year against a 10.9% rate in June, marking its lowest pace since October 2002.