🦫 Oh Canada! Half-Time Rewind

^{“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”}

— Oscar Wilde

👋 Friends, Rallie here. The newsletter struttin’ in with hottest crypto, finance, and tech news.

On the menu:

• 🦫 Oh Canada! Half-Time Rewind

• 🗞️ Headlines That Hit

• 📈 Refresh: FDI

• ✌️ Trivia Thursday

• 💯 Top Tweets

The Rallie Recap

🍁 Is 2023 an optimistic year for Canadians? From interest rates to some partial wins, there is a lot to cover about the first-half of this year. Read on for all the buzz.

• Where to start? After a pause to Canada’s rate hikes earlier this year, the Bank of Canada has once again raised interest rates sooner than expected in response to high inflation and resilience in consumer spending.

• Canada’s economy broke a lot of expert expectations from the beginning. Despite the price increase, the economy grew faster than predicted — even in the first quarter, unemployment rates increased but not to the expected severity; and added a bump to retailer profits. 📈

• Statistics Canada saw the Canadian retail market (those specializing in experience and retail rents) outperform most developed markets, and was driven by the demand for travel, hospitality and entertainment. 

• ✈️ The Conference Board of Canada believes the data could show more commitment to purchasing instead of saving because “people believe influences on financial burdens, such as interest rate hikes, have peaked.”

• But how is the housing market responding to these interest rate hikes? The International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared Canada’s housing market as the riskiest of 27 developed economies; however, some argue the “financial vulnerabilities might have more to do with rising interest rates than rising housing prices.” 🤔

• Cautious positivity. With the repurposing of office space as a result of COVID, we’ll be watching to see if real estate can turn its cities into ”healthy, vibrant downtown cores”.

• But not everyone holds the same level of hope…

• The energy transition has left many uncertain in their job future as well, as a formal action plan is expected in two years, with legislation coming up now. 👀 

• Statistics Canada found that every direct job in oil and gas leads to as many as five additional related jobs in other sectors, so how Canada adapts to this may affect its economic outlook…

• Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called Canada a world leader in global refugee resettlement with ~47K people in 2022, so some of our labour shortage issues could be lessened with more people settling in.

• But… there’s still work to be done for refugees and Canadians, even in the most hopeful predictions for the future.

• When it comes to Canada’s future, it’s hard to be entirely optimistic or pessimistic. Either way, it’s always important to stay updated on how it affects you!

Headlines That Hit

• 👀 Follow the leader! BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF filing has caused many firms to make similar filings. Bitcoin’s value rallies as a result.

• 🍞 Bread’s betrayal. Canada Bread Co fined $50M CAD after it plead guilty for a price-fixing arrangement with its competitor to raise commercial bread wholesale price.

• ⚖️ The national fight. Coinbase’s legal battles with the SEC could create financial precedents for North America’s crypto atmosphere.

• ⛔ Stop! In the name of the law… India’s AI surveillance camera deal halted due to allegations of nepotism, favouritism and corruption including violations of privacy.

• 🤨 Consequences for your actions. Although current Reddit protests are expected to end, the controversial API plan is warned to cause significant business losses due to its heavy reliance on volunteers. 

• 😧 Watch your language! Elon Musk claims that “cisgender” and “cis” are considered “slurs” on Twitter.

Rallie Refresh: FDI

🌎 Foreign direct investment (FDI): what is it and how can it influence international relations? Can it benefit or harm each party involved, and does it affect the actions of a nation? Here’s the breakdown:

🏛️ What is FDI?

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) refers to the investment made by individuals, businesses, or governments from one country into another country with the purpose of establishing a lasting interest or controlling stake in a business enterprise.

• By doing so, expectations are set. Through their contribution, the investor is expected to have significant sway in the manner the enterprise is managed. In some cases, this can be an exciting opportunity or an unavoidable trap. 🧐

• FDI can present itself in different ways: however, some of the benefits include more money to both parties’ pockets, expansion of opportunities, sustainable income and an increased reputation.

• It’s not just a cheque. More often than not, FDI provides other resources than monetary, including management teams, technology and equipment. 🤝 Targets are typically open economies that offer a skilled workforce, above-average growth prospects, and there is a preference for light government regulation. 

📣 FDI vs. FPI

• A foreign portfolio investment (FPI) is a means to diversify an organization, institution or individual’s portfolio through purchasing stocks or bonds of a foreign company.

• However, a FDI has a stronger commitment and an increased obligation to meet the regulations of the country where the investment is taking place. 🔎

• As a result, the greater attachment can lead to more substantial change such as infrastructure for developing countries to the expansion of job markets. 🛠️

• The FDI does involve the oversight and regulation of the governments involved so there is a higher political risk. It is not uncommon that these investments can lead to controversies regarding exploitation and “bending the rules” for these companies and/or countries. 💥

🤓 Keep your eyes out for the latest FDIs and its influence with The Weekly Rallie. This is just a taste of what FDIs are, so let us know if you want the full meal deal!

✌️Trivia Thursday✌️

💡 The answer for Tuesday’s newsletter (what percentage of NFT projects take up over 50% of the total market cap?) is 1%! Tune in next time for today’s fun fact answer.

Trending Tweets

Our fav funnies to get you through the day.

Congrats, you made it to the end!

That's all for today. Stay hungry & we'll catch you next time. ✌️

DISCLAIMER: This is not financial or legal advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions.