
Global Business Is Enduring a Synchronized Slowdown: Eco Week
Days after global finance chiefs described the widespread economic fallout inflicted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, business surveys may show an increasingly synchronized slowdown.
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Days after global finance chiefs described the widespread economic fallout inflicted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, business surveys may show an increasingly synchronized slowdown.
After a violent rally in bonds, Treasury traders are debating whether recent tough talk from the Federal Reserve on its commitment to cooling prices is enough to reverse the trend.
HSBC Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn said an executive’s remarks playing down the risk of climate change are “inconsistent” with the bank’s strategy and don’t reflect views of senior management.
(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., stuck with too much warehouse capacity now that the surge in pandemic-era shopping has faded, is looking to sublet at least 10 million square feet of space and could vacate even more by ending leases with landlords, according to people familiar with the situation.
(Bloomberg) -- The world’s richest nation is waking up to an unpleasant and unfamiliar sensation: It’s getting poorer.
Nov 24, 2021
BNN Bloomberg
,The head of Canada’s financial system watchdog is sounding the alarm on the use of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), which he believes may be “simultaneously fueling and helping Canadians afford rising home valuations.”
“The use of HELOCs and non-traditional housing backed products can lead to greater and more persistent outstanding principal balances, increasing risk of loss to lenders,” said Peter Routledge, who runs the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), in a speech in Vancouver on Tuesday.
“Further, it can be easier for borrowers to manage financial distress by drawing on their lines of credit to make mortgage payments.”
Routledge said such products can be helpful for consolidating debt at low interest rates, but cautions their widespread use can make it difficult for regulators to asses credit risk.
His comments come amid what many describe as a housing affordability crisis, with national home prices rising 24 per cent since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the latest Teranet-National Bank House Price index. As well, in a speech Tuesday, Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Paul Beaudry warned indebted homeowners of a possible correction sparked by an “influx” of investors.
As a result, Routledge said OSFI must “remain vigilant” as household credit risk is growing “marginally more fragile” and is calling for a more aggressive response to Canada's housing supply-demand imbalance.
However, he doesn’t fault investors for seeing an opportunity.
“Secondary buyers -- the investors -- they're making investments to generate a return. That's a free-market economy, more power to them,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
“They’re recognizing there is that forward price pressure and so they're jumping in to profit from the run up. That's the way markets work.”
Routledge added that he thinks those investors might eventually be dissuaded whenever balance is brought to the market.
“If we correct the supply-demand imbalance, you’ll start to see, in my judgment, that zeal (and) that froth start to dissipate. I think residential mortgage credit will become less of a threat to our system.”