The Canadian economy, like its housing market, continues to surprise doubters, and is expected to grow between 2 and 2.3% this year, according to Russell Investments latest Strategists’ 2014 Global Outlook, Second Quarter Update.

Russell strategists say that with the lower Canadian dollar and an improving U.S. economy, Canadian economic growth should accelerate as the year progresses.

However, they say declining job growth and high household debt may curb domestic consumption and may offset the benefits of a lower dollar.

At the same time, Russell strategists are monitoring business investment.

“Meaningful business investment has largely been absent over the last several years when our dollar was hovering at parity with the U.S.,” says Shailesh Kshatriya, associate director, client investment strategies at Russell Investments Canada.

“The question is: will business feel confident enough in domestic and global growth trends to spend now that our dollar has declined by roughly 10%?”

In terms of the direction of the loonie, Kshatriya believes the Canadian dollar’s descent has run its course for the time being, and predicts a band of roughly 89 to 94 cents U.S. for the balance of this year.

Despite alarm bells over the affordability of Canadian housing for the average Canadian, the housing market has not experienced the meltdown some have been expecting.

Kshatriya believes the market is in for a period of stagnation rather than outright devastation -— until the Bank of Canada introduces rate increases — which are not expected for at least 12 months.

Headquartered in Seattle, Russell Investments is a global asset manager with more than $286 billion (Cdn.) in assets under management.