OTTAWA, July 9 (Reuters) – Canadian businesses were markedly
less confident about the outlook for sales in the second quarter
than they were in the first, when sentiment was at a two-year
high, but hiring and investment intentions were robust,
according to the Bank of Canada’s summer business outlook
survey, released on Monday.

The survey comes just over a week before the central bank’s
next interest rate decision and its results – including views on
inflation and capacity pressures – suggest there is no big rush
for the bank to follow through on recent hints that it may raise
interest rates.

OTTAWA, July 6 (Reuters) – Canada’s job growth slowed in
June for a second straight month in a reality check after
outsized employment gains earlier this year, firming the
market’s view that the central bank won’t act soon on recent
hints of a rate hike.

Waning business confidence due to the European debt crisis
and a stalled U.S. economy meant Canada generated just 7,300 net
new jobs last month, adding to 7,700 in May, according to
Statistics Canada data released on Friday.

OTTAWA, July 6 (Reuters) – Canada’s job growth slowed in
June for a second straight month in a reality check after
outsized employment gains earlier this year, firming the
market’s view that the central bank won’t act soon on recent
hints of a rate hike.

Waning business confidence due to the European debt crisis
and a stalled U.S. economy meant Canada generated just 7,300 net
new jobs last month, adding to 7,700 in May, according to
Statistics Canada data released on Friday.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – One of the harshest critics of Europe’s handling of the debt crisis, Canada’s finance minister, sounded less prickly on Friday as he applauded the “significant strides” taken at an EU summit, but still warned about possible disappointments ahead.

“I always worry about agreements reached in the middle of the night, and the reaction of the markets which tends to be immediate,” Flaherty told reporters on a conference call from Ireland.

OTTAWA, June 28 (Reuters) – Europe’s debt crisis and
concerns about environmental policy and its impact on projects
such as the stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline dampened Canadian
business confidence in the second quarter, according to a
Deloitte survey of chief financial officers.

The mood was nonetheless far more upbeat than in the United
States, where unemployment topped the concerns of large
corporations, a trend that has lasted several quarters.

OTTAWA, June 22 (Reuters) – Canadian annual inflation slowed
more sharply than expected in May to 1.2 percent, partly due to
cheaper fuel prices, gi ving the central bank another reason to
refrain from raising interest rates any time soon.

Inflation, down from 2 percent in April, came in below the
1.5 percent median forecast of analysts in a Reuters poll a s
gasoline prices tumbled on a year-on-year basis for the first
time in almost two years, according to Statistics Canada data on
Friday.

OTTAWA, June 21 (Reuters) – The Canadian government
tightened rules for mortgages and household borrowing on
Thursday to make it harder for home buyers and homeowners to
take on massive debt, the fourth attempt in four years to cool
the still hot housing market.

Pointing to “excessive demand” in cities like Toronto,
particularly for condos, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty wants
tighter mortgage rules to do the work that interest rates
cannot, given the inability or unwillingness of policymakers to
raise borrowing costs in the face of global economic problems.

LOS CABOS, Mexico, June 19 (Reuters) – Canada will join 10
other nations in talks aimed at creating an Asia Pacific free
trade agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on
Tue sday, part of a bid to reduce reliance on the U.S. market in
favor of fast-growing emerging economies.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks are aimed at
creating a free-trade zone with a combined population of 658
million people and a gross domestic product of more than C$20
trillion ($19.65 trillion).

LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) – Canada will join 10 other nations in talks aimed at creating an Asia Pacific free trade agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Tuesday as part of a bid to reduce reliance on the U.S. market in favor of fast-growing emerging economies.

“Opening new markets and creating new business opportunities leads to jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for all Canadians,” said Prime Minister Harper in a statement about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

OTTAWA, June 8 (Reuters) – Canada’s economy created a
negligible 7,700 jobs in May in an abrupt halt to a two-month
hiring spree that had yielded the biggest employment gains in
three decades, but markets took the news in stride and saw
little impact on monetary policy.

The figures released by Statistics Canada on Friday, which
also showed the unemployment rate holding steady at 7.3 percent,
were below a median forecast of 10,000 net new jobs predicted by
analysts in a Reuters poll.