By Commodity News Service Canada
July 13 (CNS Canada) – Canada’s largest banks have increased their prime lending rates 25 basis points this morning, in the wake of the Bank of Canada decision to increase its rate by the same amount yesterday.
The Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank, Laurentian Bank and HSBC Bank Canada all moved their prime lending rate to 2.95 per cent from 2.7.
The Bank of Canada increased its key overnight lending rate Wednesday to .75 per cent from .5 per cent.
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The Canadian dollar was trading at 78.36 cents U.S. at 8:57 CDT (C$1.2762). It closed Wednesday at 78.16 cents U.S. (C$1.2794).
The S&P/TSX was up 3.5 points to 15,147.49 (.02 per cent) at 9 a.m. CDT.
Canada’s year-over-year job vacancies rose by 58,000, a gain of 17.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 compared to first quarter of 2016. The job vacancy rate rose to 2.5 per cent, up .4 percentage points over the same period, said a report released today by Statistics Canada. The job vacancy rate refers to unfilled jobs expressed as a percentage of all available payroll jobs.
U.S. stock indexes were higher today, following Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s comments before the Senate banking committee. During the first day yesterday of a two-day talk on monetary policy,
Yellen outlined a plan for a gradual increase in interest rates. Yellen also said the Fed will start the gradual sell-off of its bond portfolio.
The S&P 500 was up 2.86 points (.12 per cent) at 2,446.11, the Dow Jones was at 21,538.35, up 6.21 points (.03 per cent) and the Nasdaq was up 17.7 points, (.28 per cent) at 6,278.87.
WTI crude was posted at US$45.81 per barrel, an increase of 32 cents U.S., or .7 per cent.
