Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - Real residential house prices in Canada have grown by more than four-fold since 1970. This means that house prices have grown much faster than inflation, and housing unaffordability is extreme compared to the past and other countries like the U.S. Can the housing market in Canada be fixed? This chart shows prices indexed to 100 […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 25 bps on Wednesday and the ECB made a similar cut on Thursday. This marks a significant moment in the history of interest rate policy changes and could be a turning point. CPI Inflation has moderated enough (2.7 percent) to allow cuts without a loss of credibility. […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - Germany property prices are plummeting. Prices for commercial properties and multi-family buildings are dropping with insolvencies and foreclosures soaring. Even house prices are falling. The housing market in Germany is very different from the U.S., Canada and Australia, particularly in the terms and amount of financing available to buy a house for a first-time buyer. […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - NVIDIA, the computer chip and artificial intelligence company, announced excellent results this week, pushing the stock to new highs. The company’s share price has tripled from a year ago, making NVIDIA worth $2.5 trillion. Stock traders were pleased with the optimistic outlook expressed by the CEO. Is Nvidia the single most important stock on the […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - The Biden administration has announced increased tariffs on goods imported from China in several categories, including electric cars, batteries and solar panels. The announcement cites “China’s unfair trade practices” especially in technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation. Will these tariffs achieve Biden’s goals? The tariffs are designed to protect American workers and businesses from China’s […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - The U.S. federal government will set a new record for borrowing this year, in the trillions of dollars. Government deficits reached a record high in 2020, due to government help to the private sector during COVID. But now, even without a crisis, the deficit has soared to new high levels. Will income taxes increase? The […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - The excitement and hype regarding Artificial Intelligence continues to influence stock markets positively. While most people have not yet seen much impact on their lives, billions of dollars are being committed by a multitude of companies who wish to compete for a top spot in the future of AI. Will AI meet current expectations? Is […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - Tesla, Inc. had a closely watched first quarter report, outlining poor results this week. But the markets’ initial reaction was positive, even if the financial results were underwhelming. Why would the market push the stock 10 percent higher after disappointing results? Tesla reported a 9 percent decline in revenue after a previously reported decline in […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - The budget this week contains an impressive number of substantial measures designed to improve housing unaffordability. Will these measures make housing affordable again? Housing in Canada has been more expensive than the average family can “afford” for a long time. The old benchmark from the 1990s was a home should be no more than three […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - The U.S. Consumer Price Index exceeded expectations, growing by 4.8 percent (annualized) in the month of March, while Core CPI rose 3.8 percent from last year. The markets corrected sharply after the surprise as the market expected lower inflation leading to rate cuts. President Joe Biden said that he still expects the Federal Reserve to […]

Hilliard's Weekend Notebook - James Hansen is an 83-year-old climate research scientist that became known in the 1980s for making accurate predictions about global temperature increases. Now, he forecasts that warming is happening even faster than he expected. Will policymakers listen to Hansen this time? His latest paper, a 33-page peer-reviewed report that was published in November 2023, covers […]