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Tesla's Model Y: This Could Be The Company's Most Profitable Vehicle Seeking AlphaView full coverage on Google NewsVANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s a healthy, balanced market right now. That’s what one agent in Metro Vancouver is saying as the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver comes out with a report finding a 46 per cent increase in demand last month compared to last year.
Jenny Wun with Oakwyn Realty says people are feeling less overwhelmed than they did a few years ago.
“If you were to purchase a few years ago you would be priced out and also most likely competing against out of town buyers or buyers who are investors who have deeper pockets,” she says.
“A lot of the buyers that were intimidated are coming out of the woodwork, and they are talking to the mortgage broker. They are actually reaching out to me and asking, ‘Okay, what can we get with this budget?'”
The benchmark price for detached homes dropped 8.6 per cent in September compared with last year. The benchmark condo price was down 6.5 per cent from last year, and the attached home price was down 7.2 per cent.
Wun acknowledges that Vancouver is still expensive, but there’s more of an ability to negotiate.
“And sellers are not just testing the market. They are selling simply for the fact that they want to also move on with whatever decisions they need to make. So I think there’s that healthy dance between the buyer and the seller,” she says.
With files from the Canadian Press
Wall Street's main indexes suffered their sharpest one-day declines in nearly six weeks on Wednesday after United States employment and manufacturing data suggested that the trade war with China is taking an increasing toll on the economy.
Adding to trade concerns, the US won approval on Wednesday to levy import tariffs on $7.5bn worth of goods from Europe over illegal European Union subsidies handed to Airbus, threatening to trigger a tit-for-tat transatlantic trade war.
All 11 major S&P sector indexes fell, with energy and financials each down more than two percent.
The ADP National Employment Report showed private payrolls growth in August was not as strong as previously estimated, and said "businesses have turned more cautious in their hiring", with small enterprises becoming "especially hesitant".
That added to fears sparked on Tuesday when a report showed US factory activity contracted to its lowest level in more than a decade.
"The fact the manufacturing side of the economy in the US and globally is doing badly shouldn't come as a newsflash to anybody. But the extent of the miss yesterday is something that's driven this two-day move," said Greg Boutle, head of US equity and derivative strategy at BNP Paribas.
The recent weak data has significantly shaken investor faith in the strength of the domestic economy, which had shown relative resilience in the face of slowing global growth. Confidence in the US economy has helped support Wall Street this year.
"If China buys less from us, we have less to manufacture, fewer orders to fill. This data is indicating we are not immune to this trade dispute, that it's hurting us as well as China," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
The focus is now on the US Department of Labor's more comprehensive jobs report on Friday for further clues on the health of the economy.
The S&P 500 and the Dow slipped below their 100-day moving averages on Wednesday for the first time in about a month. Many investors believe that falling below such moving averages means the indexes are likely to fall further.
The S&P 500 is now about five percent below its all-time high hit in July after coming within striking distance of the mark two weeks ago. Over the past 12 months, the S&P 500 has gone down about one percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.86 percent to end at 26,078.62 points, while the S&P 500 lost 1.79 percent to 2,887.61.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.56 percent to 7,785.25.
Volume on US exchanges was eight billion shares, compared with the 7.3 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, an options-based gauge of investor anxiety, rose 1.9 points to 20.47, its highest in about a month.
Ford Motor Co shares fell 3.3 percent after the carmaker reported a fall of about five percent in US auto sales for the third quarter. General Motors Co slumped four percent after its quarterly sales came in slightly short of US car-shopping website Edmunds's forecast.
Among bright spots, homebuilder Lennar Corp rose 3.8 percent after the company reported a better-than-expected profit as cheaper mortgage rates led to higher demand for its homes.
Johnson & Johnson gained 1.5 percent after the drugmaker said it will pay $20m to settle claims by two Ohio counties, allowing it to avoid an upcoming federal trial seeking to hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for the nation's opioid epidemic.
SOURCE: Reuters news agency
CALGARY -- Oil sands producer Cenovus Energy Inc. is rewarding its shareholders with a 25 per cent increase in its dividend while tightening its spending plans and maintaining "modest" production growth expectations over the next five years.
On a webcast from the company's investor day in Toronto, CEO Alex Pourbaix said Cenovus faced "its fair share of challenges" when he was appointed about two years ago but his focus on strengthening the balance sheet is beginning to pay off.
"It really is timely to have an investor day right now because I think we are at the point where we, as a management team, feel that we are turning the corner and we can now start focusing on something a little beyond what's right in front of our face," Pourbaix said.
The Calgary-based company announced it will pay a quarterly dividend of 6.25 cents per share, up from a nickel, which will deliver an annual yield of nearly 2.1 per cent based on the company's closing share price of $12.05 on Tuesday.
Cenovus will be able to make further dividend increases of five to 10 per cent annually even if benchmark U.S. oil prices fall to US$45 per barrel, Pourbaix said.
The company signalled it will also consider share buybacks after it reduces its net debt to $5 billion, a target it expects to reach in the next 12 to 18 months if commodity prices are stable. Two years ago, total debt was about $12 billion.
The increased payment to shareholders came as Cenovus trimmed its capital spending plan for 2019 to between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion, a $150-million reduction from the midpoint of its April forecast.
It said it plans to grow production by two to three per cent per year over the next five years to increase total volumes to about 550,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of 2024.
Pourbaix acknowledged theenergy industry is under "scrutiny" as the issue of fighting climate change gains momentum around the world.
But Pourbaix said oil demand growth is expected to continue and said it's better for that oil to come from Canada than from less responsible countries.
"As Canadians, I would argue we should view it not only as an opportunity but rather as an obligation to produce high-ESG (environmental, social and governance rated) Canadian oil, so that they can displace lower-ESG content barrels," he said.
Last Friday, hundreds of thousands of people around the world inspired by the environmental activism of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden marched in climate strikes to demand that governments do more to meet their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and head off global warming.
In early reports, analysts were generally positive if not surprised about Cenovus' dividend increase and its growth and spending prospects.
They applauded the company's announcement of having secured an additional 22,500 barrels per day of pipeline transport to the U.S. Gulf Coast, noting it likely came through bidding for 50,000 bpd of added incremental capacity on the existing Keystone mainline.
The company said the additional space brings its combined current firm pipeline capacity to the U.S. Gulf Coast, the U.S. Midwest and the Canadian West Coast to more than 133,000 bpd.
It added that it is on track to ramp up its crude-by-rail capacity to about 100,000 bpd by the end of 2019.
VANCOUVER -- The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales jumped 46.3 per cent in September compared with last year to hit near average levels after a decline in prices.
The board says 2,333 homes sold in the month, up from 1,595 sales last year, to come in at a level just 1.7 per cent below the 10-year average for September.
Higher home sales came as the composite benchmark price for all homes in Metro Vancouver was down 7.3 per cent to $990,600 in September compared with last year. The benchmark price was down 0.3 per cent from August.
The benchmark price for detached homes dropped 8.6 per cent in September compared with last year. The benchmark condo price was down 6.5 per cent from last year, and the attached home price was down 7.2 per cent.
A total of 4,866 homes were listed in the month, a 7.8 per cent decrease compared with a year earlier, and a 29.9 per cent increase compared with August.
The board says the statistics indicate a more balanced housing market.
