January 15, 2021 | The Queasy Air of Financial Mania

Daily walks are a highlight in the COVID lockdown and, like many, I’ve been taking the opportunity to step offline and out for some air.

Yesterday, two different neighbours at different points stopped to ask me about the stock market from the other side of the street.  One walking her dog yelled,  “Are you buying Air Canada shares? Everyone I know seems to be.”  Another waved ”  A bunch of my friends are trading shares on their iPads these days. What do you think?”

A third pointed out homes that had recently sold tens of thousands over their asking price in a matter of days, “Great for us”, he said, “who knows how the young folks will get started.”

The net was a disturbing sense of deja vu reminiscent of similar unsolicited interactions in 2000 and 2007.  Then, as now, regular folks were focused on stock trading.  I still recall our children’s piano teacher urging his favourite mining picks on us in the spring of 2008.

At least then, Canadian home prices had been flat for about 15 years (following a market bust in 1989), and households were not highly levered.

Unfortunately, there’s no such comfort now.

Danielle Park January 15th, 2021

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