Economic Outlook
Canada has recovered all of the roughly three million jobs lost to COVID-19.
The country’s economy added 157,100 jobs in September, returning the labor market to pre-pandemic levels, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. That compares with economists’ expectation of 60,000 new jobs, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
The unemployment rate fell to 6.9 per cent from 7.1 per cent in August. Hours worked were up 1.1 per cent in the month but remain 1.5 per cent below their pre-pandemic level.
The Canadian dollar spiked, rising to $1.2494 per U.S. dollar as of 9:25 a.m. in Toronto. That’s the highest level since Aug. 5.
Bonds sold off, with the two-year benchmark yield at 0.651 per cent, the highest level since March 2020.
The robust numbers are a welcome sign for the nation’s economy. They suggest that companies are willing and able to hire workers as virus restrictions ease and as high vaccination rates boost optimism among consumers and businesses…read more.
Metals are all around us, from our phones and cars to our homes and office buildings.
While we often overlook the presence of these raw materials, they are an essential part of the modern economy. But obtaining these materials can be a complex process that involves mining, refining, and then converting them into usable forms.
So, how much metal gets mined in a year?
Metals vs Ores
Before digging into the numbers, it’s important that we distinguish between ores and metals.
Ores are naturally occurring rocks that contain metals and metal compounds. Metals are the valuable parts of ores that can be extracted by separating and removing the waste rock. As a result, ore production is typically much higher than the actual metal content of the ore. For example, miners produced 347 million tonnes of bauxite ore in 2019, but the actual aluminum metal content extracted from that was only 62.9 million tonnes.
Here are all the metals and metal ores mined in 2019, according to the British Geological Survey…read more.
Dust off the disco ball and rolled up dollar bills, because the 1970s are back. At least the signs of 70s-style stagflation are forming, according to one of Canada’s Big Six banks. National Bank of Canada (NBC) chief economist Stéfane Marion warned clients of the rising risk of global stagflation. Rising oil prices, soaring food costs, and slow economic growth are all surfacing. This growing issue threatens to undermine the global recovery.
What Is Stagflation?
Stagflation is high inflation during a recession, when it typically shouldn’t be seen. In a healthy scenario, inflation is the result of rising productivity and a tight job market. It’s viewed as a side effect of too much success. During stagflation, inflation rises with high unemployment and slow growth. It’s often the result of lower confidence in a currency.
It might be obvious why this is an issue, but let’s just spell it out for everyone. Rising inflation for essential goods means diverting spending from other areas of spending. Diverted cash diverts revenues for certain companies, which can further slow growth…read more.
Bitcoin has staged an epic rally since its lows near $40,000 in late September, surging almost 35% and easily passing by key technical resistance levels.
Driving bitcoin’s surge past a $1 trillion market valuation are are range of factors, including increased appetite from institutional investors who are seeking a hedge to inflation, JPMorgan said in a note on Thursday. Bitcoin’s growing role as a perceived inflation hedge has taken the wind out of gold prices, which have been flat for almost two years even as concerns about rising inflation grow.
“Institutional investors appear to be returning to bitcoin perhaps seeing it as a better inflation hedge than gold,” JPMorgan said, adding that the prior trend of money flowing out of gold and into bitcoin has reemerged in recent weeks.
JPMorgan offered three main drivers as to why bitcoin rallied from $40,000 to about $55,000 in a matter of weeks, according to the note.
1. “The recent assurances by US policy makers that there is no intention to follow China’s steps towards banning the usage or mining of cryptocurrencies.”
2. “The recent rise of the Lightning Network and 2nd layer payments solutions helped by El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption.”
3. “The re-emergence of inflation concerns among investors has renewed interest in the usage of bitcoin as an inflation hedge.”…read more.
David Rosenberg said its growing increasingly likely Canada will fall into a period of recession in the near-term as the headwinds against the economy continue to stack up.
“Compounding all the other issues on the supply side globally is this energy squeeze we’re seeing,” said Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Rosenberg Research, in an interview.
“This is a huge margin squeeze for most producers, and it’s a huge hit to the purchasing power for the 70 per cent of the economy, otherwise known as the consumer.”
Those other issues he’s referring to include global supply chain disruptions, concerns about inflation running too hot, and labour shortages, not to mention the still present threat of COVID-19 outbreaks and business restrictions.
His comments come amid a volatile week for energy prices, amid more robust than expected oil inventories in the U.S., and as Russia offered to help ease Europe’s natural gas crisis…read more.
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