Howestreet.com - the source for market opinions

ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION

March 18, 2024 | Marketplace Reveals Financial Disservice at Canadian Banks

Canadians trust they’re getting good financial advice from their banks — especially in these tough financial times. But a hidden camera investigation by Marketplace uncovers immense pressure on bank employees to push products and services to meet sales targets, or risk losing their jobs. Seven years after CBC first investigated the pressure to sell, bank […]

March 16, 2024 | Unprecedented Speculative Option Trading

Hmmmm… next-level bats*#t. Gunjan Banerji, Wall Street Journal live markets coverage lead writer, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the options market around semiconductor and tech stocks, the impact of AI mania on the options market, the impact of Fed rate cuts, and more. Here is a direct video link. 

March 15, 2024 | Reaping What We’ve Sown

  Eleven years of near-zero interest rates (2009-2022) drove record debt and consumption, with a manic over-allocation to expensive real estate. Then, online shopping and work-from-home collapsed demand for commercial and office space, and central banks embarked on the most aggressive rate-tightening cycle in more than 40 years. As central banks hold tight, the highly […]

March 14, 2024 | Beware Animal Spirits and The Lag Effect

Since the October lows, stocks have roared back to record highs, and bonds have risen solidly as US 10yr Treasury yields have dropped from 5% to near 4% Will the bull run continue through the rest of 2024? It is an election year in America after all. Or, have the animal spirits carried assets to […]

March 13, 2024 | This Kind of Housing Market

A house on my walking circuit sold on February 18 for $1,060,000 after 11 months on the market. It was initially listed in March 2023 for $1,798,000 and has been reduced nine times since. The property was relatively modest but updated with a water view and a legal rental suite. Property taxes are $8430 a […]

March 12, 2024 | Grantham: US Stocks Top 1 Percent Most Expensive in History

Jeremy Grantham’s latest update is available and worth reading on the GMO website. He points out that the current Shiller PE over 34 for the S&P 500 represents the most expensive 1% of all historical incidents. It has happened at a time when profit margins have also been at all-time highs and unemployment near all-time lows. […]

March 10, 2024 | Apartment Defaults Highest in a Decade

Nick connects the dots very well in this segment. Similar trends are happening in Canada, too. Apartment landlords around America are going into default on their mortgages at decade-high rates, suggesting that the Commercial Real Estate Crash is going to get even worse in 2024. Here is a direct video link.

March 7, 2024 | Central Banks Sit Tight as Pain Spreads

Yesterday, the Bank of Canada announced it would hold its key interest rate at 5%, the highest since 2007. At the press conference, Governor Macklem confirmed that policy discussions considered how long rates should stay at present levels but added, “It’s still too early to consider lowering the policy interest rate.” The main cause for concern remains unaffordable housing […]

March 6, 2024 | Sam Cooper Updates on Money Laundering in Canada

Sam Cooper is an investigative journalist and publisher of The Bureau. We discuss a massive CCP mortgage fraud network he uncovered in Toronto, how it relates to what’s internationally known as the Vancouver Model, and how deeply interwoven Chinese money laundering is in Canada’s economy. Here is a direct audio link.

March 5, 2024 | What China’s Slowdown Means for the World Economy

For decades, China’s economic growth was tremendous. But now the nation is seeing a significant slowdown. Its housing sector is in its third year of decline, the stock market is touching new lows and youth unemployment remains high. These issues may be a major headache not only for the Chinese people and President Xi Jinping, […]

March 4, 2024 | Transitioning To Sustainable Life: No Miracles Needed and No Time To Waste

Current estimates are that we have six years to solve 80% and eleven years to solve 100% of the air pollution, climate & energy security problems caused by fossil fuels and bioenergy. We cannot afford to waste time and money on useless technologies that will not help us advance the cause of sustainable human life on […]

March 3, 2024 | Equity Outflows as Layoffs Rise and Baby Boomers Draw Down Savings

Looking beneath the glossy marketing of investment products and their promoters is essential to managing our savings prudently. In the discussion below, Mike Green explains the nuts and bolts of the current long-always system and how it threatens financial strength and stability. Individuals cannot afford to be oblivious. Michael Green, Portfolio Manager and Chief Strategist […]

March 2, 2024 | Markets Not Priced For Downturn in Real Estate

Historically, downcycles in real estate have led to the harshest economic downturns. This cycle is global and highly interconnected. Charlie Bobrinskoy, Ariel Investments vice chair and head of the investment group, joins ‘The Exchange’ to discuss the ripple effects of China’s real estate issue on U.S. markets, which sectors would be most impacted, and more. […]

March 1, 2024 | Chinese Capital Retreating From Foreign Realty Markets

Thirteen years of ‘easy money’ spurred debt complacency and a global credit boom that inflated asset prices, particularly real estate, worldwide. Now, higher rates are triggering the great unwind in a dash to reduce overhead and raise cash everywhere, all at once. Countries that saw the most significant influx of foreign investment and property appreciation- […]

February 29, 2024 | Commercial Real Estate Investors Cutting Losses

2024 is a big year for commercial real estate refinancing (US loans maturing by year graphed below, via Liz Ann Saunders). Interest rates, insurance, taxes and ongoing maintenance costs are on the rise as occupancy rates decline. Investors who bought and held when prices were high are now selling at huge discounts to cut their negative […]

February 28, 2024 | Insolvencies Leaping as Credit Demand Slumps

Business insolvencies are rising globally (chart below via The National Post), and Canada is seeing twice the G7 average. Canadian business insolvencies rose 35% quarter-over-quarter in the final quarter of 2023. They doubled compared with the same quarter in 2022 and were at the highest level in 13 years (Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy). The […]

February 27, 2024 | Unaffordable Homes are Dead Weight

Thirteen years of ultra-easy money (2009-2022) drove an epic malinvestment of resources on a global scale. Now, we are grappling with the weight of those choices. From here, there’s a lot of room to make wiser investments that will increase efficiency and free cash flow while reducing waste, especially around energy, housing, transportation and food. […]

February 26, 2024 | Real Estate Leading Economic Stall

Some illuminating facts on the ground in this segment. Starwood Capital Group CEO Barry Sternlicht says regional banks have a “giant skeleton in the closet” when it comes to real estate loans. Speaking on Bloomberg Television, Sternlicht also discusses the state of the real estate market and his support for presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Here […]

February 24, 2024 | China Exporting Deflation To The World

Consumer prices in the world’s second-largest economy fell 0.8% in January compared with a year earlier–the most significant deflation in over a decade.   With demand weak at home and inventories piling up, Chinese producers have the incentive to dump excess goods onto world markets, and they are. Chinese export prices have dropped steadily since […]

February 23, 2024 | Mortgage Renewals Driving Shelter Inflation and Slower Economy

As I have been pointing out…years of easy money and housing speculation have left Canada’s economy between a rock and a hard place. Shelter costs (28% of Canadian CPI) are inflating as mortgages come up for renewal month after month. Households are cutting spending significantly in response. The result is stubborn shelter inflation and slowing […]

February 22, 2024 | Commercial Real Estate Stress is Spreading

In 2023, the national office space vacancy rate reached 19.6%, above the 19.3% historic peak in 1991. The overcapacity, over-valuation and debt write-downs needed in commercial real estate are themes that will persist for some time. No quick fix. Federal regulators in recent weeks have signaled concerns about commercial real estate, a financial sector that […]

February 21, 2024 | Inflation Retreating But Shelter Remains The Problem

Canada’s January Consumer Price Index (CPI) report came in softer than expected at an annualized rate of 2.9%, down from 3.4% in December and 8.1% from the cycle peak in June 2022. This brings the CPI within the Bank of Canada’s 1% to 3% target range for the first time since June 2023. The share […]

February 20, 2024 | Rosenberg: The Economy is Weaker Than The Narrative Suggests

Economist David Rosenberg, founder and president of Rosenberg Research, shares his macroeconomic view of the economy and explains why he’s not throwing in the towel on his recession call. Here is a direct video link. 

February 19, 2024 | Grantham: Pollution, Population & Purpose

Thought-provoking, far-reaching discussion about things that matter in this segment. Worth a listen. On this episode, Nate is joined by co-founder of GMO Financial Holdings, Jeremy Grantham, to discuss how finance, human population, ecology, and pollution interact to shape current trends and what they could tell us about the future. Mr. Grantham unpacks why the […]

February 18, 2024 | Harder To Get Insurance is a Game Changer

In the US inflation estimate for January, auto insurance premiums rose 20.6% year over year, while tenant and household insurance rose 6% annualized over just the last three months. Across the developed world, insurers are exiting some areas and demanding higher premiums and deductibles in others; affordable insurance — often a condition of mortgage and vehicle debt […]

Next Page »


Copyright © Howe Street Media Inc. 2002 - 2024. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.