-- Canada will release housing starts for March at 8:15 a.m. ET on Friday, notes Bank of Montreal (BMO).
It said housing starts are expected to increase 1.6% month over month in March, to 255,000 annualized, slightly below the 261,000 average of the past year.
Then at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, international securities transactions for February will be released, BMO noted that in January, international investors acquired a net $46.7 billion of Canadian securities, a "strong start to the year" given that 2025's total was $117 billion. This was paced by private corporate and federal government bonds, and it was the second largest such capital inflow in the past 46 months. Canadian investors acquired $11.4 billion of international securities, also paced by bonds.
Household credit figures for February will also be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. In January, total credit was up 0.3% month over month or 4.5% year over year, with residential mortgages at 0.4% month over month or 4.4% year over year.
The US dollar (USD) is softer (BBDXY -0.08%) with the Canadian dollar (CAD or loonie) firmer (CAD per USD -0.16%) early Friday, despite oil prices being down more than 3%, stated BMO.