In this edition:
GNCC to host webinar on Working for Workers Act
GNCC welcomes lifting of federal vaccine mandates
Manufacturing sales surpass $72 billion
Traders put 80% odds on three-quarter-point rate hike
GNCC to host webinar on Working for Workers Act
It’s official – Ontario’s “right to disconnect” law is in effect. Join our legal and HR experts for all the details about the Act.
New legislation will affect your rights and rules regarding your workforce. Any business-owner without dedicated HR or legal counsel should attend and find out what their rights and obligations are now that the law has changed.
Click here to register for free.
GNCC welcomes lifting of federal vaccine mandates, reiterates call for border measures to be lifted
Today, the Government of Canada announced that, as of June 20, it will suspend vaccination requirements for domestic and outbound travel, federally regulated transportation sectors and federal government employees.
As of June 20, 2022, at 00:01 EDT, vaccination will no longer be a requirement to board a plane or train in Canada. This change does not affect border measures that require all travellers entering Canada to continue following entry requirements, including vaccination.
The GNCC is pleased at this news and welcomes it as a step in the right direction. With vaccine mandates having being lifted in virtually all sub-national jurisdictions, this alignment makes sense, and will help to boost domestic travel and tourism.
We have asked the Government of Canada to move on to lift other extraordinary travel measures such as the ArriveCAN app.
The GNCC also asks that the Government of Canada work to derive best practices from this experience and prepare a plan for a possible resurgence of COVID-19 this fall or winter which avoids restrictions and closures to the maximum extent compatible with public health and safety.
Manufacturing sales surpassed $72 billion in April
Manufacturing sales
Manufacturing sales rose 1.7% to $72.3 billion in April, mainly on higher sales in the petroleum and coal product (+3.7%), motor vehicle (+8.2%), and primary metal (+4.1%) as well as higher production of aerospace product and parts (+11.2%) industries. Meanwhile, wood product sales decreased the most (-6.0%).
Sales of petroleum and coal products marked a new record high, rising 3.7% to $10.1 billion in April, the fourth consecutive monthly gain. Higher prices were mainly responsible for the increase as real value sales increased 0.5%. The global disruptions of energy supply caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine were responsible for the surge in prices of refined petroleum energy products (including liquid fuels), which increased 4.7% in April. Exports of refined petroleum energy products were up 14.4% in April.
Sales of motor vehicles increased 8.2% to $4.5 billion in April, the third month-over-month increase and the highest sales since August 2020. Year over year, sales in the motor vehicle industry were up 100.4%. Accordingly, sales of motor vehicle parts rose 2.0% to $2.7 billion. Exports of motor vehicles and parts rose 3.9% in April, the highest level since October 2020.
Traders put 80% odds on three-quarter-point rate hike in Canada
Bets are mounting quickly for a super-sized interest rate hike from the Bank of Canada next month, on the heels of expectations for a 75-basis-point move from the Federal Reserve this week.
Trading in overnight swaps now suggest there’s an 80 per cent chance of a three-quarter-point hike at the Canadian central bank’s July 13 decision, which would bring the country’s policy interest rate to 2.25 per cent. Last week, traders put the probability of a move of that magnitude at about a half.
The rapid change in expectations comes as investors weigh the consequences of stickier inflation taking hold in North America and the prospect of more aggressive moves by policy makers to wrestle price pressures down.
Reading Recommendations
When stocks, houses and crypto fall, where does all that money go?
CBC News
Seven months ago, there was a celebratory mood in the air for crypto traders as the two best-known cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum, shot to new highs.
Advocates said “told you so,” as financial journalists reported that the value of the global crypto market had soared to a stunning new record of about $3 trillion US.
A trillion — a million millions, or a one followed by 12 zeros — is one of those numbers so big it is hard to grasp in comparison to our daily lives. A trillion dollars would buy more than 1.3 million Canadian homes. If you kept it in cash, it would give you $1 million a day in spending money for 3,000 years.
But as crypto markets collapsed this week, the value of that pile of global cryptocurrencies has fallen from that $3 trillion to less than $1 trillion US. In other words, the value of 2.6 million Canadian houses just vanished.
The bad vibes economy: Is the economy actually bad, or does everyone just feel like it is?
Vox
Elon Musk recently told Tesla executives he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy, so he wants to pause hiring and cut the company’s workforce. This is perhaps not the best way to run a business, but it is indicative of the current mood — a lot of people have a sense that something’s just off in the economy, or it’s about to be. There’s this nagging sentiment that we’re in a precarious spot, that there’s some economic boogeyman lurking just around the corner.
This sense of dread is so pervasive that it might surprise you to hear that many aspects of the US economy are generally in good shape right now. The unemployment rate is low, and the labor market is strong. Job openings are at near-record levels, and many workers who want to find something better are doing so. Household and corporate balance sheets are strong. Business profit margins are coming down some but are not disastrous. The stock market is faltering, but the worst troubles seem to be concentrated to the high-flying tech sector that was bound to cool off a bit. Stock market investors are still much wealthier than they were five, 10 years ago.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
