Daily Wrap-up: Oil finally rebounds after turbulent day for the markets

Oil finally rebounds after turbulent day for the markets... No interest rate rise despite debt danger says BoC... Alberta recession spans 2 years for first time since the 80’s... Young Canadians are richest ever...

Steve Randall
Oil finally rebounds after turbulent day for the markets
Oil prices had another bumpy ride Wednesday following growing doubt of any real impact being achieved by any OPEC/non-OPEC production freeze; and mixed US data showing larger stockpiles alongside growing demand for gasoline. Prices finally rebounded by more than 1 per cent allowing slim gains for Wall Street, although Toronto just missed out on a positive finish.

Asian and European markets also closed with losses with the exception of Shanghai. The losses were led by Sydney and Germany.
 
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 23.17 (0.18 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed up 53.21 (0.32 per cent)
Oil is trending higher (Brent $34.46, WTI $32.25 at 4.05pm)
Gold is trending higher (1230.00 at 4.05pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7304
 
No interest rate rise despite debt danger says BoC
The Bank of Canada has ruled out increasing interest rates despite increasingly high levels of household debt. Deputy Governor Lawrence Schembri spoke Wednesday at the Guelph Chamber of Commerce and noted that a strong regulatory and supervisory framework had spared Canada from the worst of the global financial crisis but that higher household debt “has increased the vulnerability of the economy and the financial system to adverse shocks to incomes and interest rates.” Despite the risk, Mr Schembri said that the risk to the financial system from a surge in consumer debt defaults “remains low.”
 
Alberta recession spans 2 years for first time since the 80’s
The NDP government in Alberta says that the province’s recession which began in 2015 has continued into 2016; the first time that a recession in the province has spanned two years since the 80’s. The economy contracted by 1.5 per cent in 2015 and this year is expected to contract by 1.1 per cent. The government is predicting a rise in unemployment to 7.4 per cent and for the population to decrease as a net 6,000 people leave Alberta.
 
Young Canadians are richest ever
The current generation of young Canadians are richer than ever before according to a ‘secret’ study by the federal Finance Department and obtained by the CBC under the Access to Information Act. It shows that 18-34 year- old Canadians are doing better than their peers in the US and Britain, have lower student debt than is generally believed to be the case.
 

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