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Tag: ses

Weekly Update for the week ending July 25, 2025

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Dominoes start to fall
Since President Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement – imposing sweeping tariffs on nearly all imports, starting with a universal 10% base and rising to “reciprocal” rates as high as 54% – the US has been scrambling to strike new trade deals. With a 90-day pause in effect for negotiations and court challenges mounting, several countries have already hammered out agreements aimed at easing tariff threats and stabilizing trade ties.

Each deal is tailored to the partner: some offer tariff relief, others open access to key sectors, but all share one goal – softening the blow of a trade war no one wants. Let’s take a look at the deals that have been signed and why getting deals signed is important to us investors.

Weekly Update for the week ending July 11, 2025

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What’s BRICS, and Why Is It Back in the Headlines?

I first heard the term BRIC – referring to Brazil, Russia, India, and China – back in the late 1990s when I was researching high-growth mutual funds. The pitch was that these were fast-growing economies, and investing in a BRIC-focused fund would add a boost to a long-term portfolio. I ended up passing on the fund… and promptly forgot about BRIC.

Fast forward to today, and the term is back in the spotlight – this time with an “S” on the end, as South Africa officially joined the group in 2010. With BRICS now grabbing headlines again, I thought it was a good time to revisit what the group is and why it’s suddenly become a target of President Trump’s latest trade threats.

Weekly Update for the week ending July 4, 2025

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When Good News Is Bad News (and Vice Versa)

This week brought a steady stream of US labour market data, and you might’ve noticed something that feels a little backwards: sometimes good news about jobs or the economy makes stocks fall, while disappointing news sends markets higher. At first, this can be hard to wrap your head around. After all, if more people are working and businesses are hiring, that should be a positive sign, right? But markets don’t just react to the data itself – they react to what that data means for interest rates and the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) next move.

Weekly Update for the week ending June 20, 2025

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When Giants Talk Trade, Canada Feels the Impact

Last week, I discussed the build-up to the China – US trade war and what each side is hoping to get from a deal. After tensions flared this spring, complete with sweeping tariffs and tech restrictions that rattled global markets, the two countries agreed to a temporary truce and resumed negotiations. There’s now a draft framework deal on the table, but it’s more of a ceasefire than a peace treaty. Still, even a partial deal could shift the global economic outlook – and that matters a lot to Canada.