MLN NewsStream

It's an all-out war on Canadian property investors. Governments and self-proclaimed "experts" are treating investors like they're the reason your kid can't afford a treehouse in Toronto, let alone a condo.

Investors are convenient villains, pilloried for driving up prices and scapegoated for housing and immigration policy failings.

Here's just a taste of the anti-investor sentiment in Canada and the damaging repercussions of federal and provincial governments' short-sighted crusade.

Friday's U.S. jobs report came in so tame it could've been a house pet. Rate markets cheered, BoC rate cut chances improved, and MLN's go-to fixed-rate indicator, the 4-year swap rate, dove 9 bps.

Most North American yields now sit near critical technical support levels after last week's rate surge turned out to be all bark, no bite.

It's increasingly looking like Canada's first rate cut is teed up for June 5 or July 24. But borrowers would be a lot more confident of that if it weren't for the U.S. timetable being pushed back.

Based on the latest Fed powwow on Wednesday, the key stars-and-stripes interest rate is likely to remain at its 23-year peak of 5.50%—at least through the summer.

On a positive note, the Fed did reassure us that further U.S. rate hikes are off the table for now. Despite bubbly growth, employment and inflation south of the border, Fed Chair Powell chose to relieve markets with a dovish spiel—one that can be summarized in these two quotes:

Now, here's something that'll get mortgage shoppers' juices flowing.

TD has slashed its discounted variable rates. And not just a little.

For Alana Riley, Head of Mortgage, Insurance and Banking at IG Wealth Management, getting people into a mortgage that builds their net worth is not only her passion, it's her job.

She oversees a team tasked with doing just that, so we thought a quick chat might be informative. When we spoke last week, she filled us in on how IG now approaches mortgages. We also got the latest on the firm's nesto partnership.