The Peak Daily

Think your Sunday Scaries are bad? Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa after a six-week winter break with enough on their plates to keep yours truly hiding in bed. Now that artificial intelligence (AI) can pass MBA exams and create workout plans , investors just can’t pull out their chequebooks fast enough. Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

It feels like we’ve suddenly been transported back to 2013, because everyone is talking about BuzzFeed. But the  reason  they’re talking about it is very 2023. Remember last year, when we were all gleefully shaming Taylor Swift and Kylie Jenner for their exorbitant flying habits? That was fun,  right? You may soon be able to get a lot more than a massage and 75% off your next physio appointment wi...

The country’s top court is deciding whether pretend people can help defend real crimes. Canadian dealmaking fell ~40% in 2022 and is currently down ~50% from the same last year. Despite this, workers at the country’s top investment banks can sleep easy knowing their jobs are not in imminent danger. The food industry wants to appeal to a growing number of “climatarians” and “regenivores”. Celebrati...

$37 chicken , $14 yogurts , and $8 cabbage ? Apparently, we haven’t seen the worst of it, as groceries are set to become even more expensive in the coming months. Not to be outdone by Big Tech, the media sector is also battling a series of shocking layoffs. Work From Home is definitely here to stay, but unfortunately, not for everyone. Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typef...

A new lobby group wants Canada to embrace the idea of employee-owned businesses. China’s manufacturing sector may be slowing , but its facial recognition industry is booming. As Ukraine gears up for what’s been called a pivotal moment in its war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is suddenly dealing with newfound problems at home. Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.ty...

Offshoring your manufacturing to China is so yesterday. Right now, it’s all about India. Ken griffin’s Citadel has replaced Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater as the most successful hedge fund of all time—the MOAT, if you will—after generating US$16 billion for investors last year. With laptop sales on the decline, the companies that make them are trying to come up with new bells and whistles to keep consume...

When it rains, it pours. At least when it comes to tech layoffs, with Google-parent Alphabet becoming the most recent name to announce a headcount reduction. Amid a  flurry of recent announcements , it’s clear that efforts to help a healthcare industry in crisis are kicking into high gear. Somebody needs to make Top Gun, but for airline pilots, because the profession is facing a shortage and could...

The US reached the max amount of debt that it’s allowed to take on (aka the debt ceiling) yesterday, causing the US Treasury to begin taking special measures to ensure the government can continue paying its debt. Hacking group Lockbit has earned the title of “ most prolific ransomware gang in the world ”, carrying out ~25% of all known ransomware attacks last year and taking responsibility for bre...

Air Canada and WestJet have been cutting domestic flight routes in recent months, a move that one business group thinks is fishier than an in-flight meal. If it wasn’t bad enough that the cost of dating ( read: rising restaurant prices ) has skyrocketed, now the cost of landing a date is also on its way up. Russia is thought to be preparing for a major offensive in the war with Ukraine. Ukraine’s...

If you’re doing dry January, maybe just keep at it for a while—at least that’s what new national guidelines on alcohol intake would recommend. China’s GDP grew [only 3% last year]( https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/16/business/china-gdp-2022-hnk-intl/index.html#:~:text=China's economy expanded by just,downturn in the property market.) , well below government targets and the country’s slowest growth rate...

As layoffs spread across the tech and finance landscapes like a bad rash, workers are trying to get ahead by securing new jobs before the corporate axe comes a-chopping. Life is a fickle thing. Just ask Michele Romanow. One day you’re the face of a Heineken advertising campaign . The next you’re stepping down as the CEO of your company. The days of take-home and open-book essays are over, as a new...

Whether you like them scrambled, poached, or raw like  Rocky Balboa , one yolky grocery staple is about to get cheaper. Though not as cheap as they could be. BMO is linking up with financier Georgian to bring down the wall between investors and privately held technology companies. Almost 30% of Canadians say their New Year’s resolution is to  get in better shape . Some gyms are advocating for  one...

The world’s climate goals are banking on the success of carbon capture technology. One start-up has potentially kick-started the industry after a major breakthrough. Like all good friends, Canada, the US, and Mexico sometimes get into squabbles. Luckily, they have a panel of unbiased trade experts on-hand to help resolve them. The Chinese government has been trying to take some of the air out of a...

Data from past recessions shows us that blue-collar workers usually bear the brunt of the impact. This time around, the trend is on track to flip into reverse. In the market for a sublet? How about a seven-floor, 348,100-square-foot office space that was supposed to be inhabited by a Canadian tech giant? Many people have a dream of owning a small business. However, it might make more sense just to...

In recent years, Canadian companies have been pouring money into Mexico. If you’re looking to save some money on groceries (and who isn’t), some startups are hoping you’ll drop coupon clipping in favour of scouring apps to score bags of half-off produce. The days of tweeting #BellLetsTalk (and giving yourself a little pat on the back for it) have come to an end as the telecom giant revamps its fam...

If paying upwards of $670 to eat reindeer brain custard at the world’s best restaurant is on your bucket list, you have until 2024 to secure a reservation (so start calling in favours). In what’s basically a rite of passage for any sector of the economy looking to be taken seriously, Stats Canada is now officially tracking the hard data around gig work. After watching the new Top Gun, we’ve realiz...

Canadians have long headed to the US to shop, but the trend is reversing as Americans flock north to get their hands on a diabetes drug  that’s gone viral  for its weight loss effects. Like a beefy bro at the gym, Canada’s seeing some serious gains. Job gains from last month, that is. As attention shifts away from the  absolutely ancient  fad of crypto, AI startups are now taking centre stage. Cel...

Home sales in Toronto and Vancouver, the country’s largest housing markets, fell by ~50% last month compared to the year before, while average selling prices fell by 9% to ~$1,050,000 and 3% to $1,114,000, respectively, in the same time frame. As Canada ramps up efforts to meet its lofty decarbonization goals, the country’s oil sands are scrambling to keep up . CES, the world’s biggest tech trade...

What comes after a surge in employee turnover? A surge of untrained employees. Things have been stormy in the eurozone the past few months, but the clouds are starting to break as peak inflation is now behind Europe thanks to sliding natural gas prices. On New Year’s Day, Ukraine carried out a hugely successful strike on a Russian military site. Russia claims Ukraine pulled it off by locating sold...

Some Western countries are looking to play Robin Hood by taking Russia’s money and giving it to Ukraine, but it’s not as simple as swooping in with a crossbow and green tights. Changes by Apple to limit how companies track iPhone users has created an opportunity for Shopify to turn its advertising business into a growth engine this year, president Harley Finkelstein told the Financial Times. Activ...

If you’ve been avoiding the news for the past ten days, don’t stress—that’s what the holidays are for. We’re here to get you caught up on the big stories you might have missed while spending your time on more festive matters. Changes by Apple to limit how companies track iPhone users has created an opportunity for Shopify to turn its advertising business into a growth engine this year, president H...

The company that once tweeted “ love is sharing a password ” is now rolling out plans to target over 100 million people who watch the service using borrowed passwords. With most of the country affected by an extreme cold or winter storm alert—or both—the biggest travel weekend of the year is sure to be an eventful one. The federal government unveiled the details of a two-year ban on foreign home b...

Many of us may be powering down for some holiday R&R, but inflation is still hard at work, making our lives even more expensive. If you thought seeing stock markets freefall for the last year would have scared off investors, let us introduce you to the incoming wave of do-it-yourself Canadian traders. $2.4 million worth of bitcoins were mysteriously transferred from virtual wallets linked to Q...

3M will stop making and using “forever chemicals” by the end of 2025, amid growing concern from governments and the public that the substances can cause serious health problems. This month, parents across the country have been attending various year-end recitals, but the privilege of seeing their little ones scamper in the spotlight is pricier than ever . A nationwide ban on the production and imp...

Elon Musk asked Twitter users via poll—his preferred decision-making method as of late—if he should step down as the head of Twitter. Of over 17.5 million responses, 57.5% said yes . Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite, has agreed to pay US$520 million to resolve two US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaints. It seems like most carmakers are aboard the electric vehicle (EV) ban...