Monday Morning Mortgage and Market News - October 18, 2010 - Edmonton & Calgary

First Foundation Best Rate to Open the Week:

Term Mortgage Rates
1 Year 2.50%
2 Year 2.99%
3 Year 2.90%
4 Year 3.49%
5 Year 3.49%
7 Year 4.85%
10 Year 5.19%

ARM / Variable 2.30%
Line of Credit 3.50%

Qualifying Rate – 5.29%

Prime Rate – 3.00%

The TSX opened up 17 points at 12,626.07. Eight of the index’s 10 main groups were higher, including the powerhouse energy sector, up 0.2 percent.

Toronto’s main stock index was little changed on Monday morning as positive U.S. earnings lifted bank shares, helping to offset weakness in miners.

Would you like to use one of your life lines, Mr.Carney?

The Central Bank’s Mark Carney is in a bit of a quandary as he decides whether to announce a rate hike or a rate hike pause tomorrow. The central banker is widely expected to suspend his tightening campaign after three straight increases, holding the benchmark overnight rate at a still very low 1 per cent. But the decision to keep interest rates low doesn’t come without a warning from Mr. Carney. He’s urging deeply indebted Canadians not to abuse the current low cost of borrowing by taking on additional debt that may prove to be more than they can handle when the rates level out.

On the flip side, Canadians that can safely manage additional debt at this time will greatly contribute to the recovery of the country’s economy. According to an article in the Globe and Mail, expert on monetary policy, Professor Chris Ragen from McGill University comments;

“He’s making a valiant effort at conveying a very complex message. He’s right to be giving both sides of the story: There are people out there for whom interest-rate increases will be a problem because they’ve got too much debt; at the same time there are others who are being excessively prudent, shall we say, and what they’d like is for them to go out and borrow more to keep the economy going.’’

Tune in tomorrow for an update on Mr. Carney’s “final answer”...