Defined benefit pension plans that were on route to de-risking when the coronavirus hit are facing a difficult road ahead in the current lower-for-longer interest rate environment. However, a new de-risking option is available for plan sponsors that didn’t exist in the wake of the global financial crisis: merging with the Colleges of Applied Arts […]
Annual inflation in the 19-country eurozone sagged further below zero in September, bolstering expectations that the European Central Bank will add to its emergency stimulus efforts to help cushion the impact of the pandemic on the economy. The consumer price index was down 0.3 per cent in September, even lower than the minus 0.2 per […]
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario is providing employers with the option to defer contributions to certain defined benefit pension plans to help with their organization’s cash flow during the coronavirus pandemic while providing safeguards for funding plan member benefits. Eligible private sector employers will be able to defer up to six months of […]
The Federal Reserve expects to keep its benchmark interest rate pegged near zero at least through 2023 as it strives to accelerate economic growth and drive down the unemployment rate. The central bank also said Wednesday that it will seek to push inflation above two per cent annually. The Fed left its benchmark short-term rate […]
Developing economies in Asia will contract in 2020, the first such downturn in nearly 60 years, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday in an update to its forecasts. The update of the ADB’s outlook estimates the regional economy will contract 0.7 per cent this year, recovering to 6.8 per cent growth in 2021. Conditions could […]
The coronavirus pandemic will leave some long-term economic damage that will only become clearer as the country moves further along a “prolonged and bumpy” course to recovery, Canada’s top central banker says. In his first speech as governor, Tiff Macklem said the central bank expects to see growth in the third quarter of this year […]
While real assets have traditionally served institutional investors well during times of economic stress, the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic are starting to take their toll in some places. In commercial real estate, investors will likely re-evaluate their capital spending for 2020 in pockets like Edmonton and Calgary with the areas hit hard by the […]
Among the myriad fiscal responses to the coronavirus pandemic, perhaps none has received more attention in the U.S. than the federal programs for small businesses. There’s good reason. Small businesses serve as a critical source of economic growth and job creation, accounting for nearly half of national employment and 43.5 per cent of the nation’s […]