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Danielle Park

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Portfolio Manager and President of Venable Park Investment Counsel (www.venablepark.com) Ms Park is a financial analyst, attorney, finance author and regular guest on North American media. She is also the author of the best-selling myth-busting book "Juggling Dynamite: An insider's wisdom on money management, markets and wealth that lasts," and a popular daily financial blog: www.jugglingdynamite.com

Juggling Dynamite - Rebounding Treasury bond prices have lowered mortgage rates from their cycle high in October, but home prices at current mortgage rates are still painfully unaffordable for most. The Bank of Canada estimates that 45% of Canadian homeowners saw their mortgage payments rise in 2023, and 50% of mortgages initiated before March 2022 will face higher […]

January 3rd, 2024 | 2024 Starts Rough

Juggling Dynamite - Assets bid up by irrational amounts eventually end up on clearance sale. Always. This is something to remember with the seven most expensive tech companies ending 2023 at their October 2021 price peaks (chart shown below, courtesy of All Star Charts), even while the Fed funds rate has moved from .25 to 5.5% and earnings […]

Juggling Dynamite - Bonds are betting that falling inflation and rising unemployment will prompt policymakers to cut interest rates next year aggressively. After selling off in 2021 and 2022, the world’s bond market has rebounded sharply into year-end. The Bloomberg Global Aggregate Total Return Index (shown below) has risen nearly 10% over November and December, its best two-month run in […]

Juggling Dynamite - Explore the Sahm Rule, a key recession indicator by economist Claudia Sahm, signalling economic downturns when the unemployment rate’s 3-month average rises by over 0.5%. Currently, at 0.3%, its upward trend sparks speculation about a potential 2024 recession. Here is a direct video link. 

December 22nd, 2023 | Peace

Juggling Dynamite - Wishing you love, light, and, above all, inner peace. May we make wise choices and have the strength and commitment to see them through. May 2024 be a year of revelation and enlightenment. I love the beauty and simplicity of this quartet. No gimmicks needed. Here is a direct video link.

December 20th, 2023 | Debt Defaults Leaping

Juggling Dynamite - Canadian debt delinquencies, insolvency proposals, and bankruptcies are all rising sharply for households and businesses. Equifax president Sue Hutchison discussed the latest data on BNN yesterday. We are in the early days of this distress cycle with three-quarters of pandemic-era low-rate mortgages to reset at higher rates in 2024 through 2026: “We expect to see tremendous […]

Juggling Dynamite - China’s economy is struggling through a multi-year downturn in the property market, a slump in manufacturing activity and falling exports. Other countries and markets should take note. A triple whammy of falling real estate and stock prices amid credit defaults has hurt household net worth and consumer confidence. See, China’s real estate meltdown is battering the […]

Juggling Dynamite - Asset markets leapt last week as the US Fed (and Bank of Canada) held monetary policy unchanged for the 5th consecutive month, having hiked last in July. US Chair Powell fueled euphoria when he said the Fed was talking about rate cuts in 2024–the crowd went wild. Just weeks before, Powell had said they were […]

Juggling Dynamite - As expected, the US Fed did not hike yesterday and held its policy rate at a 22-year high while signalling rate cuts to start in 2024. Asset markets are jubilant across the board. Relief rallies are typical at the end of central bank hiking cycles. Optimism makes sense for government bonds, which become more valuable […]

December 14th, 2023 | No shame in seeking debt help

Juggling Dynamite - A generation of people has been devastated by monetary and fiscal policies aimed at ‘helping’ them to borrow financially suicidal sums for housing. Grave mistakes have been made, encouraged by many well-meaning family members, policy-makers and commissioned realtors and lenders. In many cases, costs will be impossible to sustain even as interest rates retreat because […]

HoweStreet.com Radio - Supply not the problem behind Canada’s housing crisis

Juggling Dynamite - Consumer spending drives some 58% of Canada’s economic growth and 68% in America, so when households are blindsided by higher carrying costs and deteriorating employment, financial weakness compounds through the economy to lower revenues for companies and governments. See more on the current US job cycle in ECRI, Unveiling the Cyclical Reality of Jobs Growth: Our […]

Juggling Dynamite - The US yield curve’s last 17 months of inversion has been the second longest in history (2-10 curve inversion lengths shown below since 1941 courtesy of The Daily Shot). Ditto for Canada, where the 2s-10s curve has also been inverted since July 2022. Only four other times in history have seen this degree of inversion, […]

Juggling Dynamite - Our September 30, 2021, client letter “Shifting Foundations” highlighted the default of Chinese property developer Evergrande as a turning point in the real estate-centric China growth story with broad implications for the global economy: China’s property sector has been the largest driver of its economic growth over the past decade and a significant driver of global growth. […]

Juggling Dynamite - Danielle was a guest on the CBC Weekend Business Panel, talking about the Bank of Canada rate decision, grocery prices and McDonald’s efforts to increase sales. You can watch a video clip of the segment here.

Juggling Dynamite - Equifax Canada reports that Canadian households added $80 billion of additional consumer debt over the past year, making the total outstanding an eye-watering $2.4 trillion. Well beyond paycheck to paycheck, many are living credit card to credit card. Money owed on credit cards climbed to a new high of $113.4 billion in the third quarter of […]

Juggling Dynamite - This morning, weaker-than-expected US job creation in November adds to the growing list of negative economic surprises globally and reinforces the expectation that the Bank of Canada today and the US Fed next Wednesday will make no rate changes for the fifth consecutive meeting. Before this morning’s data, the futures market was pricing in 120 basis points […]

Juggling Dynamite - After 475 basis points (bps) of rate hikes between March 2022 and July 2023, Canada’s economy has ground to a halt, with economic activity contracting at a 1.1% annualized rate in the third quarter. Per capita, Canadian GDP has contracted for the past five quarters (below courtesy of RBC Economics). The rate of change matters most, and […]

Juggling Dynamite - Komal Sri-Kumar, president of Sri-Kumar Global Strategies, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the latest market trends, the Fed’s inflation fight, why he believes the Fed will hold rates steady again at its next policy meeting because ‘they just don’t know what to do’, and more. Here is a direct video link. 

Juggling Dynamite - Reminder: while equity bear markets typically start from full employment and an expanding economy, the bulk of cycle losses (81%) happen once recessions begin (blue bars below since 1933), when the unemployment rate is jumping, and central banks are slashing monetary conditions once more. Canada’s TSX has gone nowhere since June 2021, but propped up […]

HoweStreet.com Radio - If you can wait a year, some great opportunities coming up

November 29th, 2023 | Real Estate Cycle Hitting Hard

Juggling Dynamite - Each week, more people realize they have too much overhead and need to cut costs. Our family knows several people in all different age groups who bought or borrowed against real estate during the pandemic and are now trying to sell. It’s not going well. It is a very stressful, sad time, and I empathize […]

Juggling Dynamite - As central banks resume easing in 2024, a bear market bottom should follow months later. Waiting for cyclical lows may feel challenging, but not waiting ends much worse. Here at the end of 2023, confidence in the economy and the financial markets is a lot higher than it was at this time a year ago. […]

Juggling Dynamite - As we head into the most-harangued shopping weeks of the year, it is important to understand that spending patterns are strongly tied to the value of homes, particularly among the so-called upper-middle-class households (defined as income over 100k). Now that interest rates have normalized and home prices are falling, even those still fully employed are pulling back […]
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