WINNIPEG – The following is a glance at the news moving markets in Canada and globally.
– United States Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said to the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday that two more interest rate increases will likely be needed later this year in an effort to bring inflation down to a target level of two per cent. After three rate hikes of 25 basis points earlier this year, the Fed’s interest rates are currently in a range of five to 5.25 per cent. When asked when rates will return to what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, Powell said it wouldn’t be for a “good while.”
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– Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported on Wednesday a new record for population growth in the first quarter of 2023. StatCan said that Canada added 292,232 more people over the first three months of the year for a rate of 0.7 per cent, the highest growth rate in any first quarter going back to 1972. Immigration is responsible for 98 per cent of the increase.
– Environment Canada has issued new air quality warnings in Central Canada due to smoke and air pollution coming from forest fires in northeastern Ontario and Quebec. High risk conditions are not expected to improve until late Thursday, when they will still be a “moderate risk.” The president of Asthma Canada said that calls to the organization’s helpline are nearly double the typical weekly and monthly rate.
