Vikram Barhat

6 days ago | morningstar.ca | Vikram Barhat

The tariff hit and growing fears of a recession underpin the labor market setback, as businesses cut jobs and implement hiring freezes to ride out the economic uncertainty. The bump in the joblessness rate coincides with weaker February GDP data, suggesting economic growth has been stalled by unresolved US tariffs on Canadian goods and retaliatory Canadian levies on US exports. Analysts say this has implications for the central bank, which decided to pause rate cuts at its last meeting in April.

1 week ago | morningstar.ca | Vikram Barhat

Carney’s Policies: A Break or Boost for Rate Cuts? The new Liberal government platform has promised nearly C$130 billion in spending across infrastructure, defense, housing, internal trade, resource development, and more. Meanwhile, US tariffs continue to exert inflationary pressure, further complicating the Bank’s calculus for rate cuts.

1 week ago | morningstar.ca | Vikram Barhat

For investors who are cautious about future rate movements or inflationary pressures, dividend equities represent a strategic middle ground, offering both the reliability of yield and the resilience of equities. To ride out ongoing market fluctuations and economic uncertainty, investors may want to explore the following dividend-paying stocks within Morningstar’s Canadian equity coverage. These homegrown companies are also trading below their fair value, offering a margin of safety.

2 weeks ago | morningstar.ca | Vikram Barhat

Sur une base annualisée, le Canada a vu son économie ralentir à 1,5 % au premier trimestre 2025, plus lentement que l’estimation de 1,8 % de la Banque du Canada et nettement en dessous des 2,6 % observés au quatrième trimestre 2024, ce qui témoigne d’une économie en difficulté.

2 weeks ago | morningstar.ca | Vikram Barhat

On an annualized bases, Canada saw its economy grind to 1.5% in the first quarter of 2025, slower than the 1.8% Bank of Canada estimate and significantly below the 2.6% seen in the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting a struggling economy. However, projections for March suggest growth of 0.1%, driven primarily by a rebound in mining, quarrying, oil and gas extraction, retail trade, and transportation and warehousing.