Tausi Insider

Writer Annie Diller called a schedule “a net for catching days.” In The Writing Life , she noted that what we do with each hour adds up to what we do with our lives: “A schedule defends from chaos and whim.” But the man who has given millions of people a rigorous system for organizing the chaos of their lives through his Getting Things Done approach, David Allen, recently noted that at some point you must be guided by instinct. “Every decision we make about what action to take at any point in time is an intuitive risk. I have 20 minutes before my next meeting – should I call Bob, work on chapter eight or go get Susan’s opinion on the new software?” he writes in his newsletter. Mr. Allen’s system revolves around lists. Many of us try to prioritize our tasks, perhaps coding them A, B or C or using the features of our to-do app to rank their importance. It seems rational, scientific in a way. But he reminds us those are inevitably simplistic rating systems and miss some important conte...

A prominent U.S. short-seller targeted Canadian dairy giant Saputo Inc., SAP-T sending the company’s shares falling Tuesday. Spruce Point Capital Management LLC released a 147-page report attacking Saputo Tuesday morning. In it, Spruce Point questioned the success of Saputo’s acquisitions and said it thinks a tough global market for milk consumption means the company will have increasing difficulty covering its dividend. Spruce Point says it sees 40 per cent to 60 per cent downside in the company’s shares, with a fair value of $13.75 to $20.50 a share. In an unsigned statement sent to Tausi Insider Tuesday afternoon, Saputo said Spruce Point never engaged with the company. “Saputo is of the opinion that the report is without merit and that it contains mischaracterizations and incorrect information, which are misleading and solely intended to benefit the author.” The company did not identify what it says is incorrect. Saputo said it “remains focused on its global strategic plan initia...

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem has demonstrated a preference in the past to institute shifts in policy direction via a series of gradual steps. Sean Kilpatrick/CP In a handful of words Wednesday, the Bank of Canada signalled that it is about to end one of the most tumultuous interest-rate-hiking cycles in the central bank’s history. The only thing it left out is precisely when. In the final paragraph of a five-paragraph statement announcing the bank’s decision to raise its key rate by another half a percentage point, to 4.25 per cent, the bank said that its Governing Council “will be considering whether the policy interest rate needs to rise further.” In the previous rate announcement in October, the bank said that Governing Council “expects that the policy interest rate will need to rise further.” Indeed, “will need to rise further” has been the bank’s operative phrase in every rate decision since it began raising rates last March. Canadian dollar holds near one-month low as B...