Dear valued client,
Markets slipped this week as the Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates steady at 5.25-5.50%. Given Jerome Powell’s comments following the decision, experts expect one more rate hike before the end of the year, which would bring the federal funds rate close to 6%.
Following in the U.S.’s footsteps (whose median monthly mortgage payment hit an all-time high – $2632), Canadian inflation numbers increased for the second straight month. August’s CPI came in at 4% (compared to 2.8% in June and 3.3% in July) impacted mostly by higher gasoline prices. Increasing inflation will put additional pressure on Canadian central bankers to maintain their strict monetary tightening policies with the aim of bringing inflation back to its 2% target.
The Union of Auto Workers staged a strike that began at the end of last week. So far, roughly 13,000 workers walked off the job at plants in Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio. Union leaders say they’re prepared to order all 144,000 UAW members to strike, and they’re ready to sit out for as long as it takes. The strike initially began because of failed negotiations between the UAW and the country’s three largest automakers; Ford, GM, and Stellantis (parent company of Jeep and Chrysler). Currently, the UAW is demanding a 36% raise in salaries, a 32-hour work week with 40 hours of pay, healthcare for retired workers, among other things. The halt in car production will have wide-ranging economic and political ramifications. Time will tell who blinks first.
Other interesting tidbits:
- President Zelensky spoke at the UN General Assembly in NYC this week in an attempt to garner more global support, money, and weapons.
- PM Justin Trudeau accused agents of the Indian government of murdering a Sikh leader in B.C. Let’s just say there’s quite a bit of tension between the two countries at the moment.
- “A Walk in the Woods,” the first painting Bob Ross ever made on his TV show that ran for 11 seasons on PBS, is expected to sell for $10 million at auction.
I’d like to end with an excerpt from Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power. This passage comes from Law 25: Re-Create Yourself.
“The character you seem to have been born with is not necessarily who you are; beyond the characteristics you have inherited, your parents, your friends, and your peers have helped to shape your personality. The Promethean task of the powerful is to take control of the process, to stop allowing others that ability to limit and mold them. Remake yourself into a character of power. Working on yourself like clay should be one of your greatest and most pleasurable life tasks. It makes you in essence an artist – an artist creating yourself.”
Have a terrific weekend.
PW
