What Is the “K-Shaped” Economy?
The eleventh letter of the alphabet has taken on new meaning. The letter “K” is now used to describe the bifurcation in today’s economy. Different consumer segments and the businesses that serve them are growing at different rates. Indeed, there’s a divergence. The upward-slanting arm of the “K” represents higher-income households with strong consumer spending, […]
The End of an Era – and to New Beginnings
It is the end of an era. After 60 years at the helm, one of the world’s most closely watched investors has stepped down as CEO. Very few people stay in one role for six decades. For context, the median tenure with a single employer has dropped to 3.9 years in the United States, while […]
AI Exuberance: How Far We’ve Come
After a summer of considerable market enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), it’s worth taking a step back. Why does AI seem to be advancing so quickly? While it may feel like a recent phenomenon, its roots stretch back to the 1950s when Alan Turing proposed his now-famous “Turing Test” for machine intelligence. What’s different today […]
A Bifurcation in Sentiment
Markets rarely linger in equilibrium. The pendulum of sentiment swings between fear and greed, and this year has been no exception. After April’s lows, the S&P surged over 30 percent in just two months, one of the fastest rallies in recent history, while the TSX hit multiple all-time highs. Yet, the mood among investors remained […]
Food For Thought: A Weaker Canadian Dollar
The Canadian dollar’s (CAD) weakness has raised questions about its broader impact and the path forward: The CAD is trading below its historical average. To start 2025, it fell below 68 U.S. cents – a level not seen in two decades. The decline has been driven by factors such as diverging U.S. and Canadian monetary […]
A Credit Downgrade: What’s In A Rating
In May, Moody’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating from the top Aaa to Aa1. This move by one of the major credit ratings agencies – S&P and Fitch are the other two – raised the question: Does a downgrade matter? First, what is a rating? A credit rating assesses a borrower’s ability and willingness to […]
Tariff Talk: Where Do We Stand?
In brief, here are four perspectives on Canada/U.S. trade: 1. The U.S. is Canada’s main export market. In 2023, Canadian total exports were valued at C$965 billion, with 77 percent going to the U.S. No other nation accounts for more than 5 percent of Canada’s exports.1 2. Canada is the U.S.’s largest export market. However, […]
Why Warren Buffett’s Cash Reserve is Growing
Warren Buffett’s increasing cash reserves at Berkshire Hathaway have drawn significant attention from market watchers. In his latest annual letter – eagerly awaited each year by many investors for its sage wisdom – Buffett addressed the topic directly: “Despite what some commentators currently view as an extraordinary cash position at Berkshire, the great majority of […]
The Illusion of Speed
It has been said that “there are decades where nothing seems to happen, and there are weeks where decades happen.” The sweeping global tariffs, announced by the U.S. on April’s “Liberation Day,” caught the world off guard – disrupting long-held norms in global trade and world order. This may signal the beginning of a new […]
The Merits of Hanging In (& Why April Felt So Bad)
It’s been a wild ride this year – and we’re only halfway through. If April’s market movements felt unsettling, you weren’t mistaken. While volatility is a natural part of equity markets, the magnitude of April’s decline was unusual. A two-day drop of more than 10 percent in the S&P 500, seen over April 3 and […]