Tausi Insider

For all the talk of corporate “greedflation,” profit margins for non-financial companies are offering yet another sign high inflation and rising interest rates are hammering the Canadian economy. New figures released by Statistics Canada this week show corporate profits in the third quarter fell for the first time on a seasonally-adjusted basis since the start of 2020, when Statscan began reporting corporate financial performance in that way. Net income before taxes declined 8.1 per cent to $137-billion compared with the previous quarter. The earnings drop is putting a crunch on corporate profit margins, which had remained largely in line with prepandemic levels, despite companies in many sectors reporting record profits on surging revenues over the past two years. Though analysts have been warnings for months about a slowdown in corporate profits, now that margins are being squeezed it could have a nasty knock-on effect for the rest of the economy and will likely heighten recession...

Medical workers outside the fever clinic of a hospital in Beijing, on Dec. 13. Andy Wong/The Associated Press Chinese leaders have reportedly delayed a key economic policy meeting amid growing signs that COVID-19 infections are surging in Beijing nearly a week after they jettisoned some of the world’s toughest anti-virus restrictions. State media reported late on Tuesday that the capital’s hospitals now have 50 COVID patients classed as critical or serious among rapidly rising cases that were mostly asymptomatic or mild. President Xi Jinping and other Politburo members and senior government officials had been expected to attend the closed-door Central Economic Work Conference, most likely this week, to chart a policy course for the embattled Chinese economy in 2023. A Bloomberg News report on Tuesday night, citing people familiar with the matter, said the meeting had been delayed and there was no timetable for rescheduling. Policy insiders and business analysts said the leadership wa...

With mortgage rates at their highest levels in years, many would-be buyers have been shut out of the real estate market. JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press The Bank of Canada is predicting home prices will decline further after it raised interest rates Wednesday for the eighth consecutive time, but it expects sales activity to pick up later in the year. The typical home price across the country is already down 13 per cent from its peak last February amid the bank’s attempts to rein in runaway inflation by reducing access to cheap loans. Now, with mortgage rates at their highest levels in years, many would-be buyers have been shut out of the real estate market. “The pullback in housing activity that began in 2022 is expected to continue over the near term,” the central bank said in the monetary policy report that accompanied its decision to hike the overnight lending rate by 25 basis points, to 4.5 per cent. Bank of Canada raises key interest rate to 4.5%, but plans to pause on hikes...

Medical workers outside the fever clinic of a hospital in Beijing, on Dec. 13. Andy Wong/The Associated Press Chinese leaders have reportedly delayed a key economic policy meeting amid growing signs that COVID-19 infections are surging in Beijing nearly a week after they jettisoned some of the world’s toughest anti-virus restrictions. State media reported late on Tuesday that the capital’s hospitals now have 50 COVID patients classed as critical or serious among rapidly rising cases that were mostly asymptomatic or mild. President Xi Jinping and other Politburo members and senior government officials had been expected to attend the closed-door Central Economic Work Conference, most likely this week, to chart a policy course for the embattled Chinese economy in 2023. A Bloomberg News report on Tuesday night, citing people familiar with the matter, said the meeting had been delayed and there was no timetable for rescheduling. Policy insiders and business analysts said the leadership wa...