Housing shows signs of stabilizing to round out 2022

The housing market has borne the brunt of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rates. But mortgage rates are now on a downswing, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage slipping to 6.09% as of last week, according to Freddie Mac. That’s down from a peak of over 7% in November. “Interested buyers are out there,” Odeta ... Read More

Turkey Hikes Fuel Tax by 200% to Finance Earthquake Damages

(Bloomberg) — Turkey boosted its fuel taxes by almost 200% on Sunday, a move that will magnify inflationary pressures and further strain household budgets. The new special consumption taxes on different types of fuel — including gasoline and diesel — were published in the Official Gazette. The increase will help meet financing needs stemming from ... Read More

TD Bank-First Horizon meltdown has traders scrambling for protection

Article content Merger arbitrage traders were expecting hiccups in Toronto-Dominion Bank’s proposed takeover of First Horizon Corp., but they were unprepared for what happened on May 5 when the US$13.4 billion transaction melted down. Article content The deal spread had been widening in recent months, as some traders were anticipating a price cut. But a ... Read More

Americans lost financial ground last year. Here’s how much.

Americans have been falling behind financially over the last year. Two reports released Thursday show just how much. The share of Americans who feel financially healthy decreased by a whopping nine percentage points in March from a year ago, according to a JD Power 2023 US Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, while the percentage of consumers ... Read More

BC politicians raise concerns about Quest University’s financial history

All three levels of government said they wanted to find out what went wrong with Quest University in Squamish, BC, after the institution revealed it was suspending operations indefinitely at the end of this academic year. And newly released audit documents from the Canada Revenue Agency have local politicians raising questions about the university’s financial ... Read More

US Life Span Falling Behind Our Peer Countries

March 6, 2023 · 7:29 AM From NPR: The average life expectancy for Americans is shortened by over seven months [in 2021]according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That decrease follows an already big decline of 1.8 years in 2020. As a result, the expected life span of someone born ... Read More