Three trends that will drive Canada’s economy in 2017

There are three trends that will guide the Canadian economy in 2017. Those are:

1. the strength, or lack thereof, of oil prices;
2. domestic housing developments; and
3. whether the U.S. economy continues to improve.

So says Russell Investments’ 2017 Global Market Outlook, which calls for modest growth in the coming year for Canada.

“Moderate improvement in the price of oil and reasonable growth of the U.S. economy are weighed down by debt-laden households,” says Shailesh Kshatriya, director of Canadian strategies at Russell Investments Canada Limited. “We expect domestic equities to be positive, but without the exuberance of 2016. However, domestic bonds likely will be challenged as lacklustre fundamentals may be partially offset by rising yields in the U.S. […] On balance, we see 2017 economic growth in the range of 1.6% to 2%.”

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