- A lot of things are getting expensive, from cars to clothes to furniture. The benchmark for consumer prices in the U.S. surged to 5% last month, the fastest uptick we've seen in over a decade.
- Still, investors are shrugging off signs of inflation, both in the U.S. and here in Canda.
June 11, 2021
📈 Pulling the plug
Good morning and TGIF. If you're in Ontario, we hope you got a patio reservation for this weekend!
Markets
|
TSX | 20049.47 | 0.24% |
|
|
S&P 500 | 4239.18 | 0.47% |
|
|
DOW | 34466.24 | 0.06% |
|
|
NASDAQ | 14020.33 | 0.78% |
|
|
Gold | 1896.40 | 0.05% |
|
|
Oil | 70.29 | 0.47% |
|
Dollar | 0.83 | -0.02% |
- 27,598,556 doses have been administered in Canada, as of writing. 63.1% of Canadians have received at least one dose, 9.5% of Canadians are fully vaccinated, 90.1% of doses delivered have been administered.
-
Percent of population who have received at least one dose: Israel: 63.2%, Canada: 63.1%, U.K: 60%, U.S: 51.5%, E.U: 42%.
-
Percent of population who are fully vaccinated: Israel: 59.4%, U.S: 42.2% U.K: 42%, E.U: 22.3%, Canada: 9.5%.
- Here's what you need to know about the delta variant.
- Ontario residents in hot spot regions can get an earlier second dose appointment.
It’s the end of an era. TransCanada (TC) Energy and the Alberta government shelved the Keystone XL pipeline project.
- To be fair, we did see this coming: U.S. President Joe Biden made the cancellation of Keystone a key campaign promise.
- On his first day in office, Biden pulled a permit that TC Energy needed to finish the pipeline, but now it’s official.
Catch up: The ~2,000 km pipeline would've carried 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta to Nebraska, and connect to the existing Keystone pipeline that carries oil to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
- In 2015, President Barack Obama killed the permit.President Donald Trump resurrected it in 2017.
- Environmental activists and Indigenous groups have protested the pipeline project for over a decade.
Canada is one of the largest exporters of oil in the world and it’s a big contributor to Alberta’s economy.
- The provincial government said Keystone XL would have created more jobs for Albertans and increased the price of Canadian oil.
- But extracting crude from oil sands is a pain from a logistical, cost, and environmental perspective, putting it at a competitive disadvantage.
What’s next: even though the pipeline is #cancelled, Alberta residents will still be on the hook for the ~$1.3 billion the province has invested in the project.
As for TC Energy, they don’t seem phased by the cancellation and have already moved on to opportunities in renewable energy. As Olivia Rodrigo says, “good 4 u I guess you moved on really easily.”
- TC had trouble attracting investors to Keystone XL anyway, and leaned on funding from the Alberta government to make the project worthwhile.
The crude that would’ve been transported by Keystone XL will still get to refineries using less reliable and more expensive methods like rail.
Zoom out: The (official) cancellation of Keystone XL is a huge blow to Alberta and Canada’s national energy plan. Regulatory hurdles forced Northern Gateway and TransCanada’s Energy East pipelines to shut down and our options to export oil are becoming increasingly limited.
European regulators are drafting a US-$425 million fine against Amazon for violating their E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, per the WSJ.
- It would be the E.U.’s largest penalty to date under GDPR.
GDPR 101: Enacted in 2018, E.U.'s GDPR redefined rules for how companies can collect and use European citizen’s personal data. It lets users ask companies to delete their data or take away third-party access, and companies have to get users' consent before using their data in any way.
...And that’s where Amazon messed up. E.U. regulators allege that Amazon violated GDPR by collecting and using people’s personal data without their consent, but we don’t know the specifics.
Big picture: Compared to other countries, the E.U. has taken an aggressive approach to holding big tech companies accountable. This fine is a sign that they’re not only putting the laws in place, but actually enforcing them.
The Logic is Canada’s preeminent tech and business newsroom, covering everything from crypto to cleantech. An indispensable part of any daily news routine, it provides in-depth reporting that gives you the real story—not the PR hype. Join influential executives and investors reading The Logic in Canada and beyond.
The Logic is celebrating three years of trusted business reporting. This week only, The Peak readers can subscribe for 50% off with the promo code PEAK at checkout. It’s the best offer we’re running this year—don’t miss out.
Air Transat will resume flying at the end of July, but will have to cut its hotel division and reduce aircraft to make up for pandemic-driven losses.
Catch up: The Montreal-based airline is known for selling vacation packages and flights to popular sun destinations, but like every other airline had cut back operations during the pandemic and eventually suspended all flights in January.
- Air Transat received $700 million in federal aid in April, around half of which was used to issue refunds to customers.
After Air Canada’s bid for Air Transat fell through in April, media exec Pierre Karl Peladeau entered into talks to purchase the airline for around $190 million.
- That’s a steal considering Air Canada was prepared to pay $720 million for Transat.
Bottom line: Airlines are counting on travellers to get back into seats ASAP as the vaccine rollout accelerates. Is this the sign you were looking for to book a flight?
What’s Nesto? Founded in 2018, nesto is an online brokerage platform that streamlines the process of securing a mortgage. Their advisors help prospective homeowners find the best rates.
- Canada’s mortgage market is worth $450 billion per year, which probably comes as no surprise to you given how obscene (or lucrative, depending on your perspective I guess) our housing market is.
Nesto follows a similar playbook as companies in the U.S. like Better.com, which has a US-$6 billion valuation, and Rocket Mortgage.
In addition to Diagram Ventures (which co-founded nesto), investment conglomerate Power Corporation of Canada (Power Corp) and American VC Jim Breyer participated in the round.
Bottom line: nesto is the latest addition to Power Corp’s string of fintech investments, which include Wealthsimple and KOHO Financial.
It’s like Netflix… but for your car’s self-driving functionality. Volkswagen (VW) is considering installing a “pay-per-use” self-driving feature.
How does it work: Through the feature, drivers can put their Volkswagen in self-driving mode for around US-$8 an hour, which sounds perfect for long drives.
VW is also thinking about other subscription options, including paying extra for better range or performance.
- Tesla charges a US-$10,000 one-time fee for access to their ‘fully autonomous’ Auto Pilot feature. VW hopes their lower cost pay-as-you-go option will be more attractive to drivers.
- Like Tesla, VW also plans to offer video game subscriptions for customers to play while their cars are charging.
The German automaker predicts it’ll make “hundreds of millions of euros” in cash from the self-driving feature once it’s out.
Zoom out: As true self-driving becomes a reality, automakers are looking to software businesses for inspiration on how to generate new streams of revenue from this cutting edge technology.
- HODL: Bitcoin is now legal tender in El Salvador.
- Ride-hailing giant Didi (aka the Uber of China) filed for an IPO.
- GameStop named two new execs to help the retailer make its e-commerce shift.
- Some Starbucks locations are running out of ingredients.
- Netflix created an online shop to sell show merch.
- Teachers led the latest financing round of this $3 billion Waterloo-based education startup.
- Check out photos of the sunrise solar eclipse from earlier this week.
- Someone bought a rare "Covid Alien" NFT for around US-$11.7 million.
- Never stress about accounting or the books again — sign up for an all-in one accounting package from Vertical CPA tailor made for startups and small businesses.*
-
This person is doing their part to address the labour shortage by working 10 remote engineering jobs.
-
Sponsored: Looking to build out your investment portfolio? The Motley Fool Canada has 10 stocks that we believe investors will probably want to own in the future. Join for 66% off today and get access to their 10 Building Blocks for Your Portfolio, and receive two stock recommendations every month.*
- For reasons we don't care to know, people are really into Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes merch.
This is sponsored content.*