Market Update

The number of Canadians receiving regular employment insurance benefits increased by 3.6%, or 53,000, to 1.5 million people in February, data showed on Thursday. The reading follows an 11.2% increase in January, according to data by Statistics Canada. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) showed that employment increased by 259,000 in February, following two months …

Canada’s New Housing Price Index (NHPI) rose by 7.9% on an annual basis during March, data by Statistics Canada showed on Thursday. On a monthly basis, the index increased by 1.1%. “The strong demand for new houses, fueled by lower borrowing costs and work from home restrictions, continued pushing up …

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided on Thursday to maintain its monetary policy unchanged, by holding interest rates at their current levels. The deposit rate stands at -0.5%, while the main refinancing rate remains at 0%. In addition, the ECB decided to keep the current pace of asset purchases at …

Floods into cryptocurrency funds and products reached $ 4.9 billion by April 16, data from CoinShares, the cryptocurrency manager, reported on Tuesday, with the pace of the increase slowing somewhat in the first two weeks of the month after reaching unprecedented levels in the first quarter of the year. The …

Data from the Turkish Ministry of Health, Wednesday, April 21, showed that 362 new deaths were recorded with Covid-19 during the past 24 hours, in the largest daily toll since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, bringing the total number of deaths to 36,975 deaths. The data showed …

Data from the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat showed that eurozone debt rose last year as European governments borrowed heavily to keep their economies active during lockdown measures aimed at combating the Coronavirus pandemic, while countries that are already heavily debt-ridden added most of the new debt. Eurostat said combined …

The euro rose ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank to be held later on Thursday, April 22nd, as any positive comments on the economic outlook or hints of a reduction in bond purchases are expected to push the single currency up rapidly. The European Central Bank is …

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which markets anti-virus vaccines abroad, said today, Thursday, that the Egyptian company, MinaPharm has agreed to produce more than 40 million doses of the Russian Sputnik v vaccine annually. The fund added, in a joint statement with Minapharm, that the two parties agreed to start …

Oil prices extended their losses for the third session Thursday, April 22nd, as a sudden increase in US crude stocks and a new spike in Covid-19 cases in India and Japan fueled concerns about the global economic recovery and that demand for fuel may falter. Brent crude futures were down …

Gold prices settled near a two-month high Thursday, April 22nd, only slightly diverging from the important $1,800 level as the US dollar retreated with the descent of Treasury yields, while palladium supply concerns kept steady near a record high recorded in the last session. Gold was little changed in spot …