For drama, it might seem difficult to top the past couple of weeks on Capitol Hill, but the debt ceiling debate in the United States is really only the opening act of a long-running production. The Obama administration and Congress will eventually have to agree to some watered-down measures that will enable an increase to […]

Scotiabank today released the results of a recent poll looking at consumer debt levels and practices, and how Canadians are feeling about their debt.    The study was conducted by Harris/Decima and assessed the borrowing habits of Canadians. More than half of Canadians (56%) feel their level of debt is manageable and an additional 27%. […]

Financial Post Staff OTTAWA — Consumer prices were up 3.7% in May from a year earlier, the biggest leap since March 2003, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. Economists polled by Bloomberg expected 3.3% annual inflation in May. Gasoline prices were cited for the main reason for such a high inflation rate last month. The core inflation […]

Farewell and good riddance to the first half of 2011 — six months that are ending as sour for the economy as they began. Most analysts say economic growth will perk up in the second half of the year. The reason is that the main causes of the slowdown — high oil prices and manufacturing […]

If you use LinkedIn correctly, it can be a marketing godsend. You can form relationships with hundreds of potential customers and solidify your brand — without spending an arm and a leg. Do it, wrong, however, and you won’t just embarrass yourself. You might actually hurt your company’s reputation, and your own. How to do […]

Strain from a world awash in debt is increasing the risk to what is already a fragile and weak economic recovery, the Bank of Canada warns. And Canada faces a second, more immediate challenge from temporary factors such as disruptions from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that will limit growth to about one per cent […]

Part of taking on responsibility, is being aware of dangers and pitfalls, and developing a plan to navigate them should they appear. And so it is with home ownership. Despite efforts to plan and account for expenses, there are many things that may cross a homeowner’s path that they may have not anticipated- job loss, changes […]

Canada’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest in more than two years as a combination of more self-employed workers and fewer job seekers in May pushed the key economic marker down to 7.4 per cent. Statistics Canada said 22,300 new jobs were created last month, slightly above consensus estimates following April’s strong 58,000 jobs gain. […]

Canada’s recreational property market appears to be bouncing back from a recessionary lull as buyers seek to capitalize on equity and stock-market gains, Re/Max says in a report Monday. Demand rose 78% in the 46 markets across the country covered by the realtor’s Recreational Property Report, while sales had risen or were on par in […]

 The TD Bank says Canadians can expect borrowing costs to remain near record lows for the rest of the year. That’s because the pace of the economic recovery is expected to slow sharply in Canada, the United States and much of the world. As such, the Bank of Canada will likely refrain from raising its […]