November 16, 2017 Factors Behind the 2014 Oil Price Decline Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2017 Reinhard Ellwanger, Benjamin Sawatzky, Konrad Zmitrowicz Oil prices have declined sharply over the past three years. While both supply and demand factors played a role in the large oil price decline of 2014, global supply growth seems to have been the predominant force. The most important drivers were likely the surprising growth of US shale oil production, the output decisions of the Organization of the Petro-leum Exporting Countries and the weaker-than-expected global growth that followed the 2009 global financial crisis. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, International topics, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): Q, Q4, Q41, Q43
November 16, 2017 An Update on the Neutral Rate of Interest Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2017 José Dorich, Abeer Reza, Subrata Sarker The neutral rate serves as a benchmark for measuring monetary stimulus and provides a medium- to long-run anchor for the real policy rate. Global neutral rate estimates have been falling over the past few decades. Factors such as population aging, high corporate savings, and low trend productivity growth are likely to continue supporting a low global neutral rate. These global factors as well as domestic factors are exerting downward pres-sure on the Canadian real neutral rate, which is estimated to be between 0.5 to 1.5 per cent. This low neutral rate has important implications for monetary policy and financial stability. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Interest rates, International topics, Potential output, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E5, E52, E58, F, F0, F01, F4, F43, O, O4
November 1, 2017 Opening Statement before the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce Opening statement Stephen S. Poloz Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce Ottawa, Ontario Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and committee members. Senior Deputy Governor Wilkins and I are pleased to be back before you today to discuss the Bank’s Monetary Policy Report (MPR), which we published last week. When we were last here in April, we were celebrating the fact that we had upgraded our economic forecast following a […] Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Monetary policy, Monetary policy transmission, Potential output, Recent economic and financial developments, Sectoral balance sheet
Global Factors and Inflation in Canada Staff Analytical Note 2017-17 Dany Brouillette, Laurence Savoie-Chabot This note investigates whether the recent weakness in inflation in Canada can be related to global factors not included in the current staff analytical framework (domestic slack, movements in commodity prices and in the exchange rate). A global common factor for inflation among selected advanced economies appears to contain marginal information for Canadian inflation beyond what is found in movements in commodity prices and the exchange rate. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31
September 27, 2017 The Meaning of “Data Dependence”: An Economic Progress Report Remarks Stephen S. Poloz St. John’s Board of Trade St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Governor Stephen S. Poloz discusses how unknowns in Canada’s inflation outlook have made the Bank’s monetary policy particularly data dependent. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Inflation and prices, Monetary policy, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Recent economic and financial developments, Regional economic developments
A Dynamic Factor Model for Commodity Prices Staff Analytical Note 2017-12 Doga Bilgin, Reinhard Ellwanger In this note, we present the Commodities Factor Model (CFM), a dynamic factor model for a large cross-section of energy and non-energy commodity prices. The model decomposes price changes in commodities into a common “global” component, a “block” component confined to subgroups of economically related commodities and an idiosyncratic price shock component. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): C, C5, C51, Q, Q0, Q02
September 18, 2017 How Canada’s International Trade is Changing with the Times Remarks Timothy Lane Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Deputy Governor Timothy Lane discusses the changing nature of international trade and the factors that are propelling it. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, International topics, Productivity, Recent economic and financial developments, Trade integration
Do Canadian Broker-Dealers Act as Agents or Principals in Bond Trading? Staff Analytical Note 2017-11 Daniel Hyun, Jesse Johal, Corey Garriott Technology, risk tolerance and regulation may influence dealers to reduce their trading as principals (using their own balance sheets for sales and purchases of securities) in favour of agency trading (matching client trades). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies, Market structure and pricing, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): G, G1, G14, G2, G20, L, L1
Did the Renewable Fuel Standard Shift Market Expectations of the Price of Ethanol? Staff Working Paper 2017-35 Christiane Baumeister, Reinhard Ellwanger, Lutz Kilian It is commonly believed that the response of the price of corn ethanol (and hence of the price of corn) to shifts in biofuel policies operates in part through market expectations and shifts in storage demand, yet to date it has proved difficult to measure these expectations and to empirically evaluate this view. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): Q, Q1, Q18, Q2, Q28, Q4, Q42, Q5, Q58
July 12, 2017 Monetary Policy Report Press Conference Opening Statement Opening statement Stephen S. Poloz, Carolyn A. Wilkins Ottawa, Ontario Governor Stephen S. Poloz discusses key issues involved in the Governing Council’s deliberations about the policy rate decision and the MPR. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Interest rates, Labour markets, Monetary policy, Monetary policy implementation, Recent economic and financial developments