Home » BLOG

BLOG

Why the budget set an ‘excessively low bar’ with US$25 oil price — and what it means for Ottawa’s spending

oil-federal-budget-2016.jpg

The Liberal government could still meet its budget targets if oil prices fall to US$25 a barrel this season and Canada’s economy only grows by one percent. That’s thanks to a $6 billion contingency fund Finance Minister Bill Morneau has generated into this year’s $29.4 billion budget deficit, though he has not explained how he intends to use that contingency ...

Read More »

Behind the scenes with Leonard Schlemm, one of the power brokers of the global fitness industry

0323schlemm2.jpg

MONTREAL – A man walked into the Nautilus gym in Hayward, Calif., to speak with owner Leonard Schlemm and his business partner, Mark Mastrov, about purchasing the club. To show he was serious, the person opened up a briefcase packed with diamonds. How Freshii is riding the health food boom and finding inspiration from fast fashion to fuel its rapid expansion ...

Read More »

How Big Oil is keeping the faith in Canada’s East Coast: ‘One of the last great undeveloped frontiers’

oil-federal-budget-2016.jpg

Major oil companies happen to be jettisoning projects, slashing capital expenditure and scrapping ambitious plans around the globe in an age of austerity within the energy patch due to the decline in oil prices from a lot more than US$100 per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude last June to less than US$30 at some point in mid-January. Why your budget ...

Read More »

Once reviled, gold hedging makes an unexpected return

goldnugget_getty.jpg

New Gold Inc. was braced for a vicious backlash in the investment community when it decided to hedge some gold production earlier this year. After all, hedging is the gold industry’s ultimate dirty word. It became this type of toxic subject over the past decade that many chief executives decided that even talking about it had been off limits. And ...

Read More »

U.S. job growth slows and profits tumble as a strong dollar and cheap oil undercut earnings

gdp-ap.jpg

WASHINGTON – U.S. economic growth slowed within the fourth quarter, although not as sharply as previously estimated, with fairly strong consumer spending offsetting the drag from efforts by businesses to reduce a listing overhang. Gross domestic product increased in a 1.4 per cent annual rate instead of the previously reported 1.0 per cent pace, the Commerce Department said on Friday ...

Read More »

The REIT sector’s next challenge: CEO succession and board renewal

reit1.jpg

Getting there C with new chief executives and groups of new directors for that firms that constitute Canada’s $100 billion real estate investment trust industry C within the next few years offers to be rather the ride. All companies is going to be affected – in large part because most of them are still run by their founders (who’re now ...

Read More »

Commodities could be headed for ‘buffalo jump’ as investors rush for the exits, Barclays warns

investors1.jpg

Commodities including oil and copper are in chance of steep declines as recent advances aren’t fully grounded in improved fundamentals, according to Barclays Plc, which warned that prices may tumble as investors rush for the exits. Canada’s recovery in danger of ‘twilight zone’ of low oil and rising loonie Canada’s economy risks getting caught in a bind where oil costs ...

Read More »

eBay aims to transform shopping experience to compete with online giants Alibaba, Amazon

ebay.jpg

TORONTO – EBay, regarded in the early days as an endless repository for Beanie babies and baseball trading cards, has transformed beyond as being a reliable place for collectables and used goods. But though 80 percent of what’s sold nowadays on eBay Canada is totally new, its relationship using the remaining 20 per cent is what makes the website special, ...

Read More »