The vacancy-to-unemployed ratio currently stands at 0.91 — meaning there are fewer open jobs than unemployed workers. At the peak of post-COVID labor market tightness, that ratio exceeded 2. This structural difference is the strongest argument the Fed has for looking through the Iran War energy shock.
The Federal Reserve announced after the December meeting that it removed the aggregate limit on the Standing Repo Facility (SRF).
Repo rates spiked toward the end of the week, with SOFR and the Tri-party General Collateral rate (TGCR) reaching 4.12% and 4.08% on Friday, respectively, breaching the Federal Reserve's overnight interest rate target range.
Canada's unemployment rate dropped substantially and unexpectedly to 6.5% in November, from 6.9% in the prior month, showing signs of a much-needed resiliency in the North American economy.
