On Wednesday the Bank of Canada (BoC) announced its latest rate increase, lifting the overnight policy interest rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 3.75%. Most analysts had predicted a 75bps increase. The lower-than-expected increase represents a continued slowing in the pace of increases since the start of the rate hiking cycle. The 50bps move… Read More
The You First Blog
As we all know, the tail-end of 2021 and 2022 so far have been challenging to say the least. Inflation – from supply issues, from COVID-related fiscal stimulus, from emergency rate cuts, and from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – has persistently been well above the Bank of Canada & U.S. Federal Reserve target mandates of… Read More
Nine months into 2022 and the market decline continues. The major economic factors behind this correction remain the same: high inflation, rising rates (to combat inflation), and commodity shortages resulting from the Russia-Ukraine War. Of course, the pandemic continues to impact the global economy. Even though the preceding 12 years were mainly positive for markets,… Read More
Market Update – By The Numbers Here are the weekly and year-to-date figures for several major North American, European and Asian stock markets. North America Friday Close Weekly Change Weekly % Change YTD % Change Canada – S&P TSX Composite 20,111 -69 -0.34% -5.24% USA – S&P 500 4,228 -52 -1.21% -11.29% USA – Dow… Read More
It’s been a difficult first half to the year, with equities, bonds, precious metals and cryptocurrencies all suffering losses. Markets are grappling with issues like the COVID reopening, inflation, central bank rate increases, the Russia-Ukraine War, and recession risk. The charts below provide reason for optimism. As you’ll see, this is indeed an extraordinary decline… Read More
How have markets performed in 2022? While markets prospered under the accommodative monetary policies brought on at the start of the pandemic, it now faces a change in policy. With U.S. inflation at a 40-year high, the market has begun pricing interest rate hikes from near zero to 3% by the end of 2022. This… Read More