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5 Things to Know Today — September 24, 2026

  Thursday, September 24, 2026 5 Things to Know Today Bond yields are hitting levels not seen in decades, Trump and Xi just extended a trade truce, and the Bank of Canada is mired in a near-100-day strike. Here's what Canadians need to know this morning. 1 · Markets TSX Sinks as Bond Yields Hit Multi-Decade Highs The TSX dropped 584 points on Wednesday — a 1.61% slide — closing at 35,751.43 and breaking through its 25-day and 50-day moving averages. It was the worst single-session performance in weeks, reversing three straight days of gains. The selloff was driven by rising energy prices and a global bond market rout that has sent U.S. 10-year Treasury yields toward 5.1%, their highest since 2007, while Canada's 30-year yield hit a level not seen since 2004. Higher yields pull money out of equities and push up borrowing costs across the board. Big bank stocks led the decline — RBC fell 2%, TD dropped 2.4%, BMO shed 2%, and Scotiabank retreated 1.6% — while gold miners added to ...

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Canada’s Population Growth and the National Bank of Canada’s Report

 

According to a report by the National Bank of Canada, Canada is caught in a “population trap” for the first time in modern history and needs to limit immigration to escape it. A population trap is when the population is growing so fast that all available savings are needed to maintain the existing capital-labour ratio, making any increase in living standards impossible. 

National Bank’s report joins the growing chorus of concern that the influx of newcomers over the past two years, many of whom are temporary workers or students, is too much for the economy to handle.

Canada’s population grew by 1.2 million in 2023, a “staggering” amount when you consider that the next biggest surge was when Newfoundland joined the nation in 1949. From a global perspective, Canada’s population growth of 3.2% last year was five times higher than the average of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nations. 

The economists say that Canada currently lacks the infrastructure and capital stock to adequately absorb current population growth and improve its standard of living. The strain is most evident in housing, with National saying the shortfall has reached a record of only one housing start for every 4.2 people entering the working-age population. Government programs are underway to address this, but to meet demand and reduce housing inflation, Canada would need to double its housing construction capacity to about 700,000 starts a year.

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