With the weather turning cold, people may have more time to read and listen to some great podcasts. So, this week’s list is quite comprehensive.
David Rosenberg was on Macro Voices and he is quite confident that we have seen the peak in inflation. However, we have to go deeper into this recession before he is a buyer of equities. He is favorable about the commodity space and is quite bullish on the gold market. (his last investment for his family account was Canadian Gold Coins and he put it in the vault in Ottawa)
The great team at Goehring & Rozencwajg provides another resource update and they explain why energy companies are buying back their stock versus increasing production. They are so good.
Another great podcast from Smarter Markets as a senior person from Goldman talks about renewables.
The banks reported again and TD did well and some of the other smaller banks (CIBC and BNS) had their challenges.
I have some friends doing presentations on trying to get people back in the office and I know community leaders are trying to stimulate business and traffic flow to their downtown area. I chatted with one of my favorite REIT analysts and he passed on a report. He said that traffic in downtown Vancouver and Toronto are down close to 50% pre-Covid, while in Montreal it is down 5%. The smaller cities in Canada are doing better and the main chart to look at is on Page 9.
I see Moose Jaw is up 103%. (where I graduated from high school)
Another challenge to downtowns and their merchants is the growth of Amazon. A 2016 story in Fast Company warned of the many issues and when the local merchants are faced with increased crime, higher wage costs and so on, it is really tough. We are seeing the closing of an 80 year old plus storied institution here in Victoria which is really sad. If you drive by the new Amazon distribution center by the airport and see about a half of a football field of delivery trucks, keep in mind the collateral damage to local business, like merchants and local delivery companies. Yes, we all have to shop smarter but there is community cost for sure.
The G&M piece highlights what the real sources are for our housing crisis. In the weekly Saretsky report, he addresses these higher variable mortgage costs but also highlights what the new Premier is doing to deal with our challenging rental situation.
It was interesting to see how quickly Larry Fink made a statement about the need to use traditional energy when the news broke of $2 Billion leaving. The ESG debate will not be over soon (poor performance and questionable metrics) and it will be interesting to follow up on this story in the coming weeks.
Finally, as so many Canadians were watching and hoping for Canada to win in the World Cup, our men’s tennis team did amazing. Our first Davis Cup win and just like soccer, we are sure gaining in international prominence in this sport.
PS…
Winnipeg Foundation willed record $500 million on Giving Tuesday
https://globalnews.ca/news/9312781/winnipeg-foundation-giving-tuesday-record-donation/
(what a gift and at 5% a year, that is $25 million a year to organizations in Manitoba. Community Foundations are so vital and I know this will motivate others in Canada to help as well. What a Giving Tuesday they had in Winnipeg)
Number 1-MacroVoices #352 David Rosenberg: This Bear Market Has A Long Way To Go
Erik Townsend and Patrick Ceresna welcome David Rosenberg to MacroVoices. Erik and David discuss:
- Recent bear market rallies – is the bottom in?
- How the Fed will manage monetary policy
- Has inflation peaked?
- Recent rally in gold
- Rising geopolitical conflicts and its impact on investors
- China re-opening
Number 2 - Goehring & Rozencwajg - Natural Resource Market Commentary
Why Won’t Energy Companies Drill?
The most pressing question facing oil markets is why US shale drilling remains so muted despite high prices. A simple question whose answer is complex. Investment pundits and oil analysts all have theories, many of which we believe miss the underlying issues. Our research suggests several complicated factors have come together to keep the industry from increasing activity. The result is that US shale production growth (the only source of non-OPEC supply growth over the last decade) will likely remain muted for longer than most investors expect.
Number 3 - John Goldstein, Head of the Sustainable Finance Group, Goldman Sachs
“We’ve taken a very old fashioned approach to all of this, which is: roll up your sleeves, do the work, do it with care, pick your head up, and try to learn from both your successes and your maybe less than successes. Keep on moving on, and continue to find really smart people to help you get better at it.”
They continue their Financing the Energy Transition series by welcoming John Goldstein back into the SmarterMarkets™ studio. John is Head of the Sustainable Finance Group at Goldman Sachs. SmarterMarkets™ host David Greely sits down with John to discuss how ESG and impact investing has evolved over the past two years and where we need to be doing the hard work right now to finance the energy transition.
Number 5 - Canada’s New Workplace Mobility Report
The pandemic caused the biggest labour market disruption of our lives. Social distancing forced rapid experimentation with remote work, altering mobility patterns and prompting businesses and workers to fundamentally re-examine where, when, and how they work.
Number 6 - Is Amazon Killing Jobs And Destroying Communities?
At what cost does convenience come? A new report says it’s not just jobs, but the rest of the economy as well.
Number 9 - Florida pulls $2 bln from BlackRock in largest anti-ESG divestment | Reuters
“We continue to like exposure to both traditional and clean energy. Given the persistence of strong supply and demand mismatches, traditional energy exposures continue to provide opportunities. We favour the sector for robust earnings, low valuations and its potential role as an inflation hedge. At the same time, energy supply crunches in 2022 have resulted in an acceleration of policy support – see the recent US Inflation Reduction Act – providing additional tailwinds and investment in the clean energy space” – BlackRock
Number 10 - Canada beats Australia to claim first Davis Cup championship
(many missed this due the World Cup game yesterday)
The Davis Cup is billed as the “World Championship of Tennis”. On Sunday in Malagá, Spain, Canada defeated Australia and won it. The squad that wasn’t even supposed to be in the finals at all, lifted the iconic trophy for the first time since its initial participation all the way back in 1913.
