Mortgage & Market News, October 12, 2010 - Edmonton & Calgary

First Foundation Best Rates to Open the Week:

Term Mortgage Rates

1 Year 2.60%
2 Year 2.99%
3 Year 2.90%
4 Year 3.49%
5 Year 3.59%
7 Year 4.85%
10 Year 5.19%

ARM / Variable 2.30%

Line of Credit 3.50%

Prime Rate 3.00%

Qualifying Rate 5.39%

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 40.05 points, or 0.32 percent, at 12,575.64 after sitting in negative territory for much of the day. Eight of the TSX’s 10 main groups ended higher.

The TSX actually rose to its highest level in more than two years Tuesday, helped by minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve that showed the U.S. central bank had a “sense” that further support to the economy “may be appropriate before long.”

Two Points of View About Current Market Conditions

Canadians are less optimistic when comes to financial and economic matters, according to RBC’s most recent Canadian Consumer Outlook Index. According to the report, consumer confidence in Canada has dropped “significantly.”

The sentiments seem to contract the data, numbers and insight offered by Canadian businesses and the Bank of Canada. Below are a few consumer perspectives from the report, contrasted with information from the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey:

Consumer Outlook: Fewer Canadians are positive about the overall economic outlook. While that number is still high at 60% – it’s down seven points from the last quarter.

Business Outlook: Canadian businesses are girding for the prospect of only modest sales growth over the next year by planning to increase spending on machinery and equipment to boost their productivity. They’ve expressed a continuing positive — but modest — expectation of sales growth for the next 12 months. The main reason for dampening firms’ expectations is given as “a weaker outlook for U.S. economic growth.”

Consumer Outlook: More Canadians are suffering from job anxiety. The number is sitting at 22% – up two points from last quarter – but still significantly lower than the 27% high of November, 2009.

Business Outlook: According to a September employment report by Statistics Canada, most businesses expect to increase hiring — 39% percent to hire more, 48% to stay the same, 14% to reduce.

Consumer Outlook: Fewer Canadians feel the national economy will improve. While that number is still relatively high at 46%, that’s down nine points from three months ago.
While economists predict the economy will slow down next year, they don’t expect it to stall completely. Many believe it will continue to grow, but at a more modest pace of 2%, rather than the 2.75-3% we’ve become accustomed to.

Have a fantastic short week and if you have any questions about this week’s best rates, please contact one of our Licensed Mortgage Brokers!