Thursday morning news drop
U.S. inflation rises to yet another 40-year high of 7% The U.S. inflation rate is at its highest level in 40 years and showing no signs of slowing down, new data revealed Wednesday. Higher than previous month's high of 6.8% and in line with expectations (CBC)
Trying to make sense of inflation? So is everybody else Markets zig-zag as everyone waits to see how seriously the Fed takes new U.S. data on rising prices (CBC)
The Bond Market Refuses to Accept Economic Reality Traders are working off an outdated playbook that assumes this recovery will resemble the sluggish one coming out of the financial crisis. (Bloomberg)
High gas prices, oilpatch labour crunch, pipeline friction: The year ahead in energy The last two years have taken energy markets on a wild ride, with oil prices crashing through the basement at the outset of the pandemic and climbing to more than $85 US a barrel last fall. Industry expects busier 2022 as policy-makers sharpen focus on 'net-zero' plans (CBC)
Four reasons you’re seeing empty grocery store shelves The omicron surge, extreme weather and record December sales are among the reasons that toilet paper aisle is looking shaky again. (Washington Post)
Why Grocery Store Shelves Are Bare. Again. Supply chains are made of people. (Slate)
Look Ahead to 2032, at the Very Least: In this season for forecasts and resolutions, investors will be better off if they are able to think 10 or more years ahead, our columnist says. (New York Times)
50 Company Stocks to Watch in 2022 From Airbnb to Volkswagen, keep an eye on these global stocks this year. Factors include growth prospects, management changes, and planned releases of noteworthy products and services. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was important, as were growing sales of electric vehicles, the transition to clean energy, China’s increasing regulatory scrutiny, power shortages, and opportunities in the metaverse. (Businessweek)
What Is Antivirus Company Norton Even Doing Mining Crypto on Your Computer? when a prominent antivirus firm takes a turn toward cryptocurrency, it’s certainly possible to interpret that move as a sneaky money grab. That was the general gist of Cory Doctorow’s tweet about Norton Crypto this week, in which he pointed out that Norton takes a cut of the cryptocurrencies its users mine (15% percent of the crypto allocated to each miner). But perhaps the more interesting question is what it says about the market for antivirus software that one of the most prominent manufacturers of those products is now going the way of Kodak. (Slate)
Half a Billion in Bitcoin, Lost in the Dump For years, a Welshman who threw away the key to his cybercurrency stash has been fighting to excavate the local landfill. (New Yorker)
Where buyers came from in 2021 The full year buyer origin data is out, so let’s take a look at what changed and what didn’t about where Victoria buyers moved from in 2021. Remember, this is filled out by agents and is in response to the question “Where is the buyer currently residing?“. That means it’s not a measure of buyer citizenship, and of course it’s always debatable whether someone who moved here to rent for 6 months before purchasing should be considered a local or out of town buyer (in these data they would very likely be considered local). Nevertheless it’s an interesting dataset given it’s been running for 18 years and it seems to match pretty well with both other data sources on migration from StatsCan (figure below) and changes in market activity. (House Hunt Victoria)
