In this edition:
Bank of Canada assets continue to decrease
Stocks set to halt longest weekly slide since 2001
Canopy Growth reports Q4 revenue down 25%
Bank of Canada assets continue to decrease as market conditions improve
Since the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic, the Bank has acted in several ways to support the Canadian economy and financial system. When key financial markets became strained in March 2020, the Bank responded by introducing several programs to provide liquidity and maintain market functioning. As market functioning gradually recovered, some of these facilities and operations were either suspended, discontinued or scaled back. On April 25, 2022, the Bank ended reinvestment entirely and began quantitative tightening.
The Bank’s holdings of financial assets are typically related to its role as the exclusive issuer of Canadian bank notes. However, the higher levels of financial assets in recent years result largely from activities undertaken as part of the Bank’s monetary policy and financial system functions. The Bank’s assets peaked in the first quarter of 2021 but began to decrease as market conditions improved. The Bank continued to operate in the reinvestment phase of its quantitative easing assets purchase program during the first quarter of 2022. Its total assets decreased by 3% during that time to $486,872 million as at March 31, 2022. The main driver of the decline was the maturity of loans and receivables.
Stocks set to halt longest weekly slide since 2001
Stocks continued to rebound from a steep selloff that drove the market to near-oversold levels, with rebalancing from institutional investors potentially lifting equities at the end of the month.
The S&P 500 almost erased its monthly decline and was poised to halt the longest weekly slide since 2001. Global stock funds saw their biggest inflows in 10 weeks, led by US shares, according to a Bank of America Corp.’s note citing EPFR data. The Nasdaq 100 outpaced major benchmarks, with Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc. up at least three per cent. Dell Technologies Inc. surged as revenue topped estimates. The dollar fell, while Treasuries fluctuated. US markets will be closed Monday for a holiday.
Canopy Growth reports Q4 net revenue down 25 per cent from year ago
Canopy Growth Corp.’s shift toward premium cannabis helped the company report a smaller quarterly loss compared with a year ago, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 25 per cent drop in revenue.
The Smiths Falls, Ont. cannabis company behind brands like Tweed, Doja and Ace Valley said Friday that net revenue in what was Canopy’s fourth quarter totalled $111.8 million, down from $148.4 million in the same quarter last year.
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Twitter shareholders sue Elon Musk, alleging his antics have deflated stock price
CBC News
Twitter shareholders have filed a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk of engaging in “unlawful conduct” aimed at sowing doubt about his bid to buy the social media company.
The lawsuit filed late Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claims the billionaire Tesla CEO has sought to drive down Twitter’s stock price because he wants to walk away from the deal or negotiate a substantially lower purchase price.
San Francisco-based Twitter is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which seeks class action status as well as compensation for damages.
Survey shows 55% of homeowners strapped for extra costs
BNN Bloomberg
Nearly 40 per cent of Canadian homeowners said they are concerned about their finances, and fewer than half said they could afford more than $200 in increased monthly costs, according to the latest survey for BNN Bloomberg and RATESDOTCA.
The survey, which was conducted by Leger, asked 1,513 Canadians about their finances as they face rising interest rates and the highest rate of inflation in more than 30 years. The polling focused on homeowners, with 62 per cent of respondents saying they owned their home. Lager conducted the survey between May 13 and May 15, 2022.
Update on monkeypox in Canada
Public Health Agency of Canada
Today, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is confirming additional cases of monkeypox in Canada. In addition to the previously reported sixteen confirmed cases in Quebec, PHAC’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) has confirmed another 10 cases. There are now 26 confirmed cases in Canada. The breakdown by province is: Quebec (25) and Ontario (1). It is likely that additional cases will be reported in the coming days as the NML is continuing to receive samples for confirmatory testing from multiple jurisdictions.
Q&A on Monkeypox
FactCheck.org
In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a viral outbreak once again has health officials concerned. This time, it’s monkeypox, a much less dangerous relative of smallpox.
In early May, cases of the disease began cropping up in Europe and other places outside of Central and West Africa, where monkeypox is endemic, including the U.S. Most of the monkeypox patients aren’t known to have recently traveled to endemic areas, indicating the virus is spreading person-to-person.
With hundreds of confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases reported before the end of the month, the outbreak is abnormally large. But experts say while the situation is worrying, the risk to most individuals is very low.
Here, we explain what monkeypox is, what makes the outbreak unusual, and why it’s important to take seriously but unlikely to play out like the coronavirus.
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Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
