Tausi Insider

U.S. consumer sentiment fell in November, pulled down by persistent worries about inflation and higher borrowing costs, a survey showed on Friday. The University of Michigan’s preliminary November reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 54.7, down from 59.9 in the prior month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a preliminary reading of 59.5. The survey’s reading of one-year inflation expectations edged up to 5.1 per cent from 5.0 per cent in October. The survey’s five-year inflation outlook rose to 3.0 per cent from 2.9 per cent in October. https://www.tausiinsider.com/u-s-consumer-sentiment-falls-in-november-inflation-expectations-rise/?feed_id=426210&_unique_id=649acd6a29cb9

Starbucks baristas during the company's annual shareholders meeting in Seattle on March 20, 2019. Ted S. Warren/The Associated Press Rob Csernyik is a freelance journalist who is writing a book about minimum-wage work. Several months after receiving my second bachelor’s degree, I found myself working behind an espresso machine once again. When I graduated from high school in 2004, postsecondary education was presented as the ticket to high salaries and trappings of middle-class life such as home ownership. Instead, my generation graduated from university into a global recession, followed by rising home and living costs and the global COVID-19 pandemic. The conventional wisdom was thrown on its head. Today, with the exception of certain professions, higher education guarantees little to workers. This week, Statistics Canada released 2021 census results that show our nation has the G7′s most educated work force, with 57.5 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 possessing college or un...

Sobey's Queensway store in Toronto on Apr. 3, 2020. Canada’s Food Price Report says the cost of groceries will increase by 5 to 7 per cent in 2023. J.P. MOCZULSKI/Tausi Insider Food costs in Canada will continue to rise over the next year, with the average family of four expected to pay an additional $1,000 for groceries in 2023, according to an annual report on prices. Canada’s Food Price Report says the cost of groceries will increase by 5 per cent to 7 per cent in 2023, compounding the financial burden of a year of record-high food inflation that saw prices climb 10.3 per cent between November, 2021, and September, 2022. By way of comparison, in its October Monetary Policy Report, the Bank of Canada said it expects the consumer price index to fall to about 3 per cent by late 2023. The average family of four, who paid more than $15,200 for food in 2022, will pay more than $16,200 next year for the same groceries, the report said. The main drivers of that increase are the contin...

U.S. consumer sentiment improved in December amid recent gains on the stock market, while inflation expectations eased to a 15-month low, a survey showed on Friday. The University of Michigan’s preliminary December reading on the overall index of consumer sentiment came in at 59.1, up from 56.8 in the prior month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a preliminary reading of 56.9. The survey’s reading of one-year inflation expectations fell to 4.6%, the lowest reading in 15 months, from 4.9% in November. Its five-year inflation outlook was unchanged at 3.0% in November. https://www.tausiinsider.com/u-s-consumer-sentiment-improves-in-december/?feed_id=329492&_unique_id=642f5678bec65

Deepali Verma, a student from India, says that International students are upset over the treatment that current and upcoming foreign-enrolled students are receiving at Cape Breton University in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Carolina Andrade/Tausi Insider Deepali Verma is nearing the end of her studies at Cape Breton University. She has taken just one class on campus. Instead of going to lecture halls, she and hundreds of her peers in the university’s post-baccalaureate diploma programs have attended classes at a Cineplex movie theatre, before nightly showings of Top Gun: Maverick and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever . The university has increased its intake of foreign students – so much, and so quickly, that it has run out of space on campus. During the recent fall semester, 90 courses in the post-baccalaureate programs were held at Cineplex, compared with 56 on campus and 20 online. About 2,680 students were enrolled in those programs. All but two were international students, and the vast ...

Google parent Alphabet Inc. is shutting down its artificial intelligence research office for DeepMind Technologies Ltd. in Edmonton, as the technology giant chops about 12,000 jobs worldwide in a cost-cutting measure during a sectorwide slowdown. DeepMind, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet GOOGL-Q, is consolidating across Canada, the company said in a statement. It is based in Britain, where it is also laying off an unknown number of operational staff. Locations in Toronto and Montreal, which are within Google’s offices there, will continue to operate as normal. Some researchers in Edmonton have been offered the option to relocate to another DeepMind office. The company, which was acquired by Google in 2014, has research centres in Canada, France and the United States. Alphabet chief executive officer Sundar Pichai said late last week that 6 per cent of Alphabet’s global work force will be laid off. The cuts are on top of massive layoffs at Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., as...

Canada’s financial services industry is strong, stable and competitive, and Canadians have plenty of choice when it comes to where to park their money. Duane Cole/Mark Blinch/Tausi Insider Leonard Waverman was the dean of the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. He is a former director of BNP Paribas Canada and the C.D. Howe Institute. As a former business school dean and as an economist, I’m happy competition policy is in the headlines these days, even for the wrong reasons. Why do people suddenly care? The Rogers-Shaw drama is certainly a big part of it. The Competition Bureau repeatedly lost in opposing a deal that gives it everything it wants. The Canadian debate always remains focused on the wrong things. We point a finger at the Rogers-Shaw takeover but endure trade barriers between provinces, supply management in sectors such as dairy and government monopolies in alcohol. Then there’s the public re...