
China’s Post-Covid Zero Consumer Boom Has Yet to Materialize
It's been three months since the crippling curbs were ended. Are people spending the way they used to?
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It's been three months since the crippling curbs were ended. Are people spending the way they used to?
A Hong Kong property developer is bringing new commercial buildings to the market even as the competition for tenants intensifies amid record-high vacancies.
California, which has the US’s highest rate of homelessness, will likely ask voters to approve billions of dollars more in spending to help address a crisis that’s spilled onto the streets of every major city in the state.
The Federal Home Loan Bank System issued $304 billion in debt last week, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public data. That’s almost double the $165 billion that liquidity-hungry lenders tapped from the Federal Reserve.
A banking crisis in a matter of days has emerged to potentially choke off a red-hot economy, raising the odds of a recession that the Federal Reserve has been working to avoid.
Mar 4, 2020
BNN Bloomberg
,The Bank of Canada’s decision to cut its benchmark interest rate Wednesday will further fuel the country’s housing markets, according to one expert.
“It’s going to be an unexpected blockbuster year in the mortgage market – at least until and unless we see a serious breakdown in the economy, ” Rob McLister, founder of mortgage comparison website RateSpy.com, told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview. “If you start seeing unemployment tick half a point higher, then all bets are off on the mortgage outlook this year.”
“But for the foreseeable future, these unbelievably low rates are adding a lot of fuel to the fire in the housing market.”
Chartered banks typically follow the central bank’s lead when it comes to adjusting their prime rate, albeit not always passing along the full benefit of cuts. The prime rate is used to help determine interest rates on various loans, including variable-rate mortgages.
McLister said that even with the Bank of Canada’s decision, the country’s lenders won’t be rushing to slash their mortgage rates.
“They generally don’t cut mortgage rates significantly during market volatility,” he said. “It’s highly likely rates will come down a bit in the short-term. But we might have to wait. Banks might keep some powder dry. They’re taking a hit with falling rates and an inverted yield curve.”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”