The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that the Canadian economy picked up speed in late 2023 and appeared to shake off a period of stagnation, getting a boost from the end of various labour disputes and the likely spillover effects of a strong U.S. economy. The Globe's Matt Lundy writes that real gross domestic product grew 0.2 per cent in November, outpacing a previous estimate of 0.1 per cent, Statistics Canada said Wednesday in a preliminary estimate. The agency said the economy accelerated to a 0.3-per-cent gain in December. Taken together, those numbers suggest the Canadian economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.2 per cent in the fourth quarter, rebounding from a contraction in the summer quarter. Statscan will release more comprehensive Q4 data on Feb. 29. "A resilient economy paired with no durable evidence of a soft patch in underlying inflationary pressures make it highly premature to even be talking about rate cuts while hike risk has by no means gone away," Derek Holt, head of capital markets economics at Bank of Nova Scotia, said in a note. Mr. Holt argues that the Canadian economy is stronger than it appears, citing temporary hits from labour disputes and inventory adjustments.