The Canadian economy moves through the following economic indicators. By extension, the Canadian dollar, or loonie, also moves depending on what these indicators tell.
Gross Domestic Product
The gross domestic product (GDP) data comes from Statistics Canada on a monthly and quarterly bases. This report shows the GDP for the overall economy, categorized by industry.
If you’re trading the Canadian dollar, keep close tabs on this economic report, as it tells how the Canadian economy is doing.
Employment and Unemployment Data
To get key information regarding the Canadian employment market, including the change in employment/unemployment rate and participation rate, you go-to economic report is the monthly Labor Force Survey, also coming from Statistics Canada.
This data has the wealth information of the Canadian job market, broken down by demographic, worker class, industry, and province.
Consumer Price Index
Still from Statistics Canada, you can access a monthly report on the consumer price index (CPI) data, which gauges the inflation rate at the consumer level.
This report is made through comparison of overtime changes in a fixed basket of goods and services availed by consumers.
Also, it shows the change in the CPI on the month-on-month basis as well as on the year-on-year measure.
International Merchandize Trade
The international merchandize trade report also comes from Statistics Canada, and this report shows the country’s imports and exports. It also shows the net merchandize trade deficit or surplus.
At the same time, the report compares the latest data with the preceding month’s data. You browse by product category and also see the country’s top ten trading partners.
Consumer Confidence Index – CCI
The Conference Board of Canada’s Index of Consumer Confidence gauges the consumer’s levels of optimism with regards to the condition of the economy.
It is a very important indicator of near-term sales for consumer product companies in the country. At the same time, it tells something about the outlook for the broad economy since consumer demand makes up a huge part of it.
Ivey Purchasing Managers Index – PMI
Meanwhile, this Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) comes from the Ivey Business School at Western University.
The Ivey PMI tells something about the monthly variation in economic activity based on a panel of purchasing managers across the country.
When the PMI figure is below 50, it means the managers purchased less in the previous month. The opposite is true for a PMI figure of above 50.
Housing Starts
Meanwhile, a monthly report on the residential construction activity comes from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which publishes the data on the sixth working day of every month.
The data is broken down by region, province, dwelling type, and census metropolitan area.
Building Permits
Coming from Statistics Canada, the building permits survey is performed every month to collect data on the value of permits coming from Canadian municipalities for residential and non-residential buildings. It also shows the value of authorized residential dwellings.
And because the issuance of building permit is one of the very first steps in the process of construction, the aggregate building permits data are very useful for evaluating the condition of the construction industry.