Amidst rampant inflation and supply-chain disruptions, Canadian dairy farmers feel squeezed to get their products onto grocery store shelves. Billionaire CEO Elon Musk is feeling "super bad" about the economy and will move to pause hiring and cut ~10% of his Tesla workforce, he said in an email to executives on Thursday. Canada’s got a bigger productivity problem on its hands that threatens to drag down both business profits and wages. The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted ...
Jun 06, 2022•11 min
Montreal-based Repare Therapeutics has entered a deal (potentially worth US$1.2 billion) with pharma giant F Hoffman La Roche to create a new drug to treat cancerous tumours. Almost half of Canada’s asset managers, researchers and lenders are “not very satisfied” or “totally dissatisfied” with available company data for so-called “green” investments, One estimate suggests that inflation has offset two-thirds of the buying power of Canadians after the pandemic The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Me...
Jun 03, 2022•10 min
The Bank of Canada (BoC) is continuing to aggressively hike interest rates to combat high inflation, announcing another 0.5 percentage point raise yesterday to 1.5%. Canada’s largest employers are now required to report wage-gap data, part of an effort to shine a light on pay discrepancies across the country. Some of North America’s largest food and drink companies are pledging to limit advertising to children under 13, as increased regulation on the practice looms The Peak Daily is produced by ...
Jun 02, 2022•10 min
Canadians could soon find it difficult to cool down this summer as lifeguard labour shortages start to impact beaches and pools across the country. Over four million Canadians who use the Tim Hortons mobile app may have had their day-to-day movements recorded without their knowledge Job hunters tired of sending out cover letters that may never be read, along with employers tired of reading them, are increasingly turning to work messaging app Slack to connect The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Med...
Jun 01, 2022•10 min
The World Bank ranks the Port of Vancouver the 368th most efficient port in the world, meaning it’s one of the least efficient. The Port Authority boss warns that issues will remain unless a proposed extension is approved. EU leaders are set to endorse a proposed ban on Russian oil, which makes up 29% of the bloc’s oil imports. The proposal will ban oil transported by tankers, but continue to permit delivery via pipeline. Frontier, a 592,000 pound machine has been named the world’s fastest super...
May 31, 2022•9 min
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Canada could start supplying Europe with liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2025 ahead signalling a new openness to accelerating LNG projects on the East Coast. The federal government issued a policy that aims to make internet access more accessible and affordable by forcing large telecoms to provide smaller competitors with increased access to their high-speed networks. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Canada’s top...
May 30, 2022•10 min
The SEC is proposing new regulations of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance funds amid accusations of greenwashing. World Bank President David Malpass said it's hard to see how a global recession will be avoided, as the impacts of the war in Ukraine continue to take their toll on the world economy. With close to US$3 billion of art sold globally in May alone, the art market is sparkling right now as buyers drop serious coin on pieces by legends and up-and-comers, alike. The Peak Daily...
May 27, 2022•10 min
Pfizer announced plans to sell brand-name drugs at not-for-profit prices in low-income countries, starting in Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda. Big pharma sees Africa as the last remaining high growth market. Quebec’s Bombardier has launched a new private jet capitalizing on soaring demands for chartered air travel amongst the world’s wealthiest travellers. The US$78 million jet also comes with all the luxurious trappings you’d expect, including four separate living areas, a meeting ro...
May 26, 2022•10 min
Snap’s shares took a 30% tumble after the social media company’s CEO announced it would miss its revenue and profit targets. The revenue slowdown is attributed to economic pressures and ad tech changes. Airbnb is leaving China, a signal that big western tech has can’t survive in the world’s second-largest economy. The home-sharing company will remove its 150,000 listings, as local competitors take its place. Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog is warning law enforcement and the government ab...
May 25, 2022•11 min
Almost a million people in Ontario and Quebec were left without power this weekend as a severe thunderstorm rocked the area. A report from ****The North American Electric Reliability Corporation predicts widespread blackouts this summer. Joe Biden is launching a new trade agreement with 12 Indo-Pacific countries (and no Canada), in a bid to economically isolate China. The countries participating in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) make up 40% of the world’s GDP. Apple is pushing its co...
May 24, 2022•9 min
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) posted a 6.8% return on investments this past fiscal year, but lost 2.9% last quarter alone amidst global pressure on public equities and stock market selloffs, particularly in China. As the EU works toward banning Russian energy imports (increasingly unclear what this means anymore in response to the war in Ukraine, China is getting ready to hit the oil equivalent of a warehouse sale. Globalive announced it has struck a 20-year agreement to acces...
May 20, 2022•10 min
US Soccer scored a big goal for wage equity, reaching a historic equal pay agreement with its men’s and women’s national teams With ~US$1.6 trillion of cryptocurrency’s market cap wiped out since its November highs, investors, celebrity endorsers, and regulators alike are reckoning with the industry’s increasingly uncertain future Business bankruptcies in Canada are moving closer to pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2022, jumping ~33% compared with last year The Peak Daily is produced ...
May 19, 2022•11 min
Horror stories about long wait times at Canadian airports have flooded the news in recent weeks, and now the government is asking airlines to shrink their schedules and cancel planned flights to reduce the stress on airports. Google claims Canada’s Online News Act would break the internet, but NOT in a good way. Economists are now predicting that Canadian home prices will drop by double-digit percentages this year as higher borrowing costs (sparked by interest rate hikes) take their toll on the ...
May 18, 2022•11 min
Across the Pacific, New Zealand dairy producers launched a formal complaint alleging dairy tariffs violated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The Alberta government is looking at over 40 new applications for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects to use underground caverns across the province to store captured carbon. From bedrooms to fitness centres, hotels are about to get a whole new level of personal. The world’s largest hotel chain is launching a media network to help a...
May 17, 2022•11 min
India announced a ban on wheat exports over the weekend, a move that threatens to drive up already-high food prices and worsen shortages of key crops caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s inflation week. We’ll get April inflation numbers on Wednesday, and analysts are forecasting a similar pace of price rises (6.7%) as the previous month. That slowdown in the growth of inflation is welcome news, but the days of stable prices are still likely a ways off. US airline regulators have rejected...
May 16, 2022•7 min
In the midst of a week packed with inflation concerns, stock market pressures, and the breakdown of popular stablecoins, the volatility of cryptocurrency is on full display. Canadian seniors are turning to reverse mortgages as they consider new ways to fund their retirement—one private lender, Equitable Bank, saw a 262% year-over-year surge in its reverse mortgage products last quarter. This time last year it was all cherry blossoms and champagne showers for the globally-recognized Japanese inve...
May 13, 2022•12 min
As more people take advantage of the opportunity to work remotely, extend vacations, or just take a vacation at all, Airbnb has unveiled changes to its platform that cater to longer stays. Alberta’s highest court has ruled that a 2019 federal environmental impact law overreaches into provincial jurisdiction and is therefore unconstitutional. For almost 100 years, Michelin Guides (by tire company Michelin) have been the pre-eminent tastemaker in global fine dining. And Starting for the first time...
May 12, 2022•11 min
Clearview, the surveillance company that rose to fame for scraping social media to build a huge facial recognition database, agreed to permanently ban most private companies from using its service under a court settlement in Illinois. The stock split club just added a new (and unexpected) member: Nintendo. The Japanese game giant announced a 10-for-1 split to make the stock more affordable for retail investors. One British spy chief is saying that maybe we were getting a bit carried away with co...
May 11, 2022•12 min
If you’re wondering what’s up with stocks lately, you probably already know the answer is that nothing’s up. We break down the latest markets news. Quebec’s stringent new French-language laws are expected to pass before summer, which would leave tens of thousands of (previously exempt) businesses forced to adopt higher standards around French signage, contracts, and employee language proficiency. The Swedish meatball and furniture giant IKEA is investing over US$3 billion to bring stores to city...
May 10, 2022•12 min
Despite a Canadian horse being one of the favourites, Canadians couldn’t bet on last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby through single game sports betting apps because the government excluded it from new regulations. One in five container ships globally are currently stuck at major ports due to service and route disruptions stemming from lockdowns in Shanghai and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of Canada’s biggest maple syrup companies has been taken over by Bain Capital-owned Valeo Foods Group, with t...
May 09, 2022•11 min
Calgary’s Neo Financial has raised C$185 million led by billionaire Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures—launching the challenger bank into Canadian unicorn status, or a valuation of over $1 billion. Shopify missed profit estimates and announced the largest acquisition in its history, a US$2.1 billion deal for startup Deliverr to expand its warehousing and delivery services for merchants that would rival Amazon. Apple, Google, and Microsoft want to kill off passwords for good—within the coming year, all...
May 06, 2022•11 min
Markets are trying to connect the dots on the future of ride-sharing, as Uber doubles its revenue from last quarter but Lyft’s weak earnings outlook has dragged both companies’ stock prices down. Canada has become one of the first countries in the world to hold crowdfunding platforms to the same reporting standards as banks for large or suspicious transactions. Thanks to boosts from recent acquisitions, The New York Times added 387,000 net digital subscribers in Q1, bringing its total subscriber...
May 05, 2022•11 min
The United Church of Canada has plans to create new rental apartments for 34,000 people over the next 15 years by revitalizing its properties to find new uses for old churches across the country Restaurant Brands International (RBI) reported a net income of US$183 billion in Q1, much of it driven by Tim Hortons which boosted its year-over-year sales by nearly 13% and saw the largest earnings of any RBI restaurant. Canada’s Pension Plan (CPPIB) has built stakes in several late-stage Indian startu...
May 04, 2022•11 min
Turns out, the majority of mental health and prayer apps are pretty creepy—tracking, sharing, and capitalizing on users’ most intimate personal thoughts and feelings. Canadian conglomerate Thompson Reuters is launching an independent assessment to align itself with the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Stellantis—the world’s sixth-largest automaker, with brands including Chrysler and Jeep—will announce a new $2.54 billion deal to revamp existing plants in Southern Ontario for ...
May 03, 2022•11 min
Social media and camera company Snap announced a mix of new platform features this week—some that bet on bringing augmented reality (AR) into daily life, and others that fly. Tesla has recalled 48,000 vehicles in the US over concerns about speedometer displays, marking Tesla’s tenth recall campaign of the year. French social media app BeReal is betting that social media users tired of filters and perfectly curated ‘lewks’ on apps like Instagram and TikTok feel the same way. Celebrating something...
May 02, 2022•11 min
Meta’s stock surged yesterday after adding more users than expected but posted its slowest revenue growth since going public a decade ago Canada has joined 55 other countries in signing a pledge to promote connectivity, democracy, and “the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms” on an internet that is open, reliable, and secure. Block (formerly Square), the digital-payments company run by Dorsey, has expanded its small business loans program to Canada, available as of this week*.* Ce...
Apr 29, 2022•11 min
Spotify gained two million new paying subscribers over Q1 and its total monthly average of paid and unpaid users rose to 422 million, representing a net gain of 16 million in the period—but the news wasn’t enough to stop the stock from hitting an all time low. Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development released five new reports and taking the Canadian government to task on its climate initiatives. And the most damning finding was that carbon emissions fell just 1.1% bet...
Apr 28, 2022•12 min
Elections Canada is undergoing a digital makeover that includes virtual offices and modernizing record-keeping. The EU has issued a warning to Elon Musk over Twitter’s (still feels weird saying that), making it clear that, free speech plans aside, Twitter must comply with the EU’s new digital regulations or risk being fined up to 6% of their total revenue or even banned outright in the Eurozone. Canada is caught between two calls: to boost oil and gas production to help with the global energy cr...
Apr 27, 2022•11 min
As China continues to keep much of Shanghai in lockdown as it combats a mass Covid outbreak, Chinese stocks have fallen to their lowest levels in over two years with two main stock indexes falling 5% Monday. Beekeepers across Canada are buzzing with concerns over alarmingly high bee mortality rates owing to damages from the (menacingly named) Varroa destructor mite, with some keepers in Manitoba and Ontario seeing losses of up to 90%, much higher than typical mortality rates of 20-30%. Twitter h...
Apr 26, 2022•12 min
Lululemon is launching two membership plans later this year in a bid to drive customer brand loyalty and help reach its ambitious goal of doubling sales to US$12.5 billion by 2026. Angus Reid **released a new survey that found 51% of Canadians favour abolishing the monarchy in Canada A Twitter Canada executive has reportedly likened the federal government’s plan to regulate the internet to the approach of authoritarian countries like North Korea and Iran, per The Globe and Mail. Celebrating some...
Apr 25, 2022•11 min
