Cyprus has four days to agree on a new plan to raise funds to avoid bankruptcy, otherwise the ECU will pull the plug on the country’s banks at the start of next week if no solution is found. The ultimatum finds the Cypriot government racing to devise a plan that will please both Parliament and...

Cyprus’s government has again postponed a crucial parliamentary vote on a controversial levy on bank deposits that the cash-strapped country’s creditors have demanded in exchange for a €10 billion ($13 billion Cdn) rescue package. The speaker of parliament said the one-day delay is needed to give the government time to amend an international bailout deal...

BMO’s move over the weekend to cut its benchmark five-year mortgage rate to under 3% from 3.09-2.99%, could spur other banks to follow suit in the lead-up to the busy spring home-buying season. “Banks will be banks, it’s not the first time the banks have tried to undercut each other in order to prop up...

Home prices in Canada declined for the fifth straight month in January. Prices were down 0.3 per cent over the 11-city composite index, declining in seven of 11 major Canadian markets from December. Real estate showing lowest annual growth rate since late 2009 as the housing market continued to cool. Only Vancouver has seen an...

The GBP saw another severe sell-off hitting six-month lows against the US dollar. With recent economic data from the UK consistently disappointing traders expect another round of quantitative easing from the Bank of England. The yen gained ground against most of its rivals before a Group of 20 meeting at which officials may debate the...

The ECU left interest rates unchanged last week. When many countries are affected in the monetary policy then disagreements tend to arise. On one had despite German factory orders being disappointing, a government spokesman said “the euro was not too strong at the moment if you “consider the long term average.””  The French on the...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Orders for goods produced in U.S. factories rose 1.8% in December, the Commerce Department said Monday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected orders to increase by 2.3%, largely because of higher orders for commercial and military aircraft. Orders for durable goods – products meant to last at least three years – advanced 4.3%...

The pound suffered yet more weakness on Friday, after the release of worse than expected GDP figures, a 0.3% drop against a forecast of a -0.1%, reason for the poor reading were the unwinding of the economic boost from the Olympic Games, and plunging oil and gas output, which now leaves the country on the...

The Bank of Canada meeting today maintained its benchmark interest rate at one per cent. Quoted by Bloomberg, Aaron Fennell, a futures specialist at Bank of Nova Scotia’s ScotiaMcLeod unit, said that, “we’re a long way from getting back to normal interest rates. If they do start raising rates in Canada, they’re going to do...

Last week a very interesting request was made. The German Governmentrequested the Federal Reserve of America to repatriate its’ physical Gold. A scandalous response was provided as the Federal Reserve said it would take 7 years to return their gold. Therefore where is all the Gold? Please click on the link below and read more....

Toward the stretch run of 2012 the markets were somewhat stagnant;anticipating the decisions of the American government in order to avert what was referred to as the Financial Cliff. The political parties created such drama in public to strive for a resolution to avoid projected income tax increases for the majority of Middle and Lower...

The Canadian economy is in for weaker growth in 2013, according to CIBC’s latest economic forecast. The bank cites a continued weak global economy and a lack of key domestic economic drivers for its lowered forecast of economic growth next year. CIBC now says it expects Canadian GDP to rise by a “very mediocre” 1.7...