Each week, our team publishes a blog and webcast.
U.S. midterm elections take place in just over six weeks on November 8. If the polling is accurate, which lately it hasn’t been, and the forecasts come to fruition, there’s a 70% likelihood that the Democrats will secure a majority in the Senate and the Republicans will win the most seats in the House. In […]
The answer is that they all share the same parent company. Restaurant Brands has about 30,000 locations throughout the world, 65% of which are Burger King, 18% are Tim Hortons, 13% belong to Popeyes, and 4% are Firehouse Subs. The cash flow, however, is overwhelmingly earned by Tim Hortons (44% of the company’s total) and […]
Several years back, I found myself sitting on a train beside a very chatty seatmate. Before the train had departed Toronto’s Union Station enroute to Windsor, the Stratford native had dropped Justin Bieber’s name once, then twice, then three times. My destination — 4 hours and 21 minutes away — couldn’t have come sooner. Thankfully, […]
September tends to be the most volatile month in the market. With many money managers on vacation during August, trading volumes tend to be quite thin throughout the summer. Upon returning to work in September, trading volumes pick up and volatility historically intensifies. Going back to the 1970’s, September is the only month that posted […]
We all gather information from different sources. To a historian, archives are invaluable. For a lawyer, case precedent is essential. With a reporter, eyewitness testimony is likely helpful. In our case, we’ve always preferred to gather information and generate ideas by listening to other people. Not just one or two individuals here and there, but […]
If you have ever owned a pet, you can attest that they’re part of the family. Few industries can boast about growing during the financial crisis. The pet industry, however, was one that did. As the chart below suggests, expenditures on pets, pet food, veterinary, and other pet services grew by a +6% compounded annual […]
The price of copper briefly topped $5.00 a pound in March, then fell over 35% to $3.20 several weeks ago. It has since rebounded back to about $3.60. Despite its selloff, partially driven by China’s zero-COVID policy, the fundamentals for copper look very strong in the years ahead. China’s zero-COVID policy is testing the patience […]
Because of the financial crisis and the unprecedented money-printing exercise that followed, Bitcoin was created in 2009. Given the heightened distrust for public institutions – namely the government and its central banks – the new cryptocurrency allowed transactions to take place without financial institution involvement as well as anonymously from the prying eyes of the […]
Once the average gas price surpassed the psychological $2.00/litre here in Ontario, demand destruction started to take shape. A Leger survey conducted in May found that 66% of Canadians were either cancelling their trips or amending their vacation plans amid higher gas prices. That road trip from Toronto the Halifax no longer made much sense. […]
