An Empirical Analysis of Liquidity and Order Flow in the Brokered Interdealer Market for Government of Canada Bonds Staff Working Paper 2003-28 Chris D'Souza, Charles Gaa, Jing Yang The authors empirically measure Canadian bond market liquidity using a number of indicators proposed in the literature and detail, for the first time, price and trade dynamics in the Government of Canada secondary bond market. They find, consistent with Inoue (1999), that the Canadian brokered interdealer fixed-income market is relatively liquid for its size. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, G14
September 3, 2003 Bank of Canada lowers target for the overnight rate by 1/4 percentage point to 2 3/4 per cent Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario The Bank of Canada today announced that it is lowering its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one percentage point to 2 3/4 per cent. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
Monetary Policy in Estimated Models of Small Open and Closed Economies Staff Working Paper 2003-27 Ali Dib The author develops and estimates a quantitative dynamic-optimizing model of a small open economy (SOE) with domestic and import price stickiness and capital-adjustment costs. A monetary policy rule allows the central bank to systematically manage the short-term nominal interest rate in response to deviations of inflation, output, and money growth from their steadystate levels. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Exchange rates, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, F, F2, F3
Measuring Interest Rate Expectations in Canada Staff Working Paper 2003-26 Grahame Johnson Financial market expectations regarding future policy actions by the Bank of Canada are an important input into the Bank's decision-making process, and they can be measured using a variety of sources. The author develops a simple expectations-based model to focus on measuring interest rate expectations that are implied by the current level of money market yields. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): G, G1
Income Trusts - Understanding the Issues Staff Working Paper 2003-25 Michael R. King An income trust is an investment vehicle that distributes cash generated by a set of operating assets in a tax-efficient manner. The market capitalization of income trusts has grown rapidly over the past two years, reaching $45 billion at year-end 2002. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G3
Essays on Financial Stability Technical Report No. 95 John Chant, Alexandra Lai, Mark Illing, Fred Daniel The four essays published here provide a useful overview for anyone interested in understanding the issues and policy environment surrounding financial system stability. Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G2, G28
August 23, 2003 Financial Developments in Canada: Past Trends and Future Challenges Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2003 Charles Freedman, Walter Engert Freedman and Engert focus on the changing pattern of lending and borrowing in Canada in the past thirty to forty years, including the types of financial instruments used and the relative roles of financial institutions and financial markets. They examine how borrowing mechanisms have changed over time and consider the challenges facing the Canadian financial sector, including whether our financial markets are in danger of disappearing because of the size and pre-eminence of U.S. financial markets. Some of the trends examined here include syndicated lending, securitization, and credit derivatives, a form of financial engineering that has become increasingly important in the last few years. They also study bond and equity markets to determine whether Canadian capital markets have been hollowed out or abandoned by Canadian firms and conclude that the data do not provide much support for that view. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial services, Recent economic and financial developments
August 23, 2003 Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2003 Cover page Canadian World War I War Bond The $100 10-year bond of the FirstWar Loan is slightly larger than a sheet of legal-sized paper. It forms part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada. Photographed by Gord Carter, Ottawa. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
August 22, 2003 Measuring Interest Rate Expectations in Canada Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2003 Grahame Johnson Financial market expectations regarding future changes in the target for the overnight rate of interest are an important source of information for the Bank of Canada. Financial markets are the mechanism through which the policy rate affects other financial variables, such as longer-term interest rates, the exchange rate, and other asset prices. An accurate measure of their expectations can therefore help policy-makers assess the potential impact of contemplated changes. Johnson focuses on the expectations hypothesis, which measures expectations of future levels of the target overnight rate as implied by current money market yields. Although expectations can be derived from the current yield on any short-term fixed-income asset, some assets have proven to be more accurate predictors than others. The implementation of a policy of fixed-announcements dates has coincided with the increased predictive power of these short-term assets. As a result of this improvement, a relatively simple model of the yield curve can now provide an accurate measure of financial market expectations. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rates, Financial markets, Interest rates
August 22, 2003 Bank of Canada Operations during Current Power Difficulties During the current power difficulties, the Bank of Canada in Ottawa has been operating from its back-up facility to provide essential services, such as monitoring financial markets and the critical clearing and settlement systems. Content Type(s): Press, Market notices