For many investors, it’s been a tough few months of navigating the market’s choppy waters. 

If you’ve kept up with The Peak lately, you know the cost of things is up, which has led the world’s central bankers to kick interest rate hikes into high gear. Since US inflation data shows no sign of slowing down, investors worry that hikes will get even more aggressive. 

All that led to a very bad, no-good day for markets yesterday, so let’s unpack. 

The (US) S&P 500 Index opened the week with major losses, officially falling into bear market territory (defined as a 20% loss from a recent high) for the first time since 2020, as investors raise their bets on aggressive Federal Reserve interest-rate increases. 

Up next, major crypto lender Celsius halted withdrawals between accounts on its platform due to “extreme market conditions,” contributing to a broad crypto stock selloff and Bitcoin hitting an 18-month low of US$22,000 (reminder: investors ditch high-risk assets first).

• If you’re thinking, “what’s it to me?” Canada’s second-largest pension fund, Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) is an investor in Celsius, which offers absurdly high annual yields (~18%) that have led critics to call it a Ponzi scheme.

In Canada: After a selloff of ~1% on Monday, the TSX Composite Index is faring relatively (we can’t emphasize this enough) well compared to its US counterparts, but down 10% from its all-time high earlier this year, which means it’s entering ‘correction’ (not yet bear) territory. 

Why it matters: The US central bank is expected to raise interest rates by half a percentage point (possibly more) on Wednesday, Europe’s central bank just announced its first rate hike in over a decade, and Canada’s central bank, by all measures, is on a serious rate roll. 

Like all of you, we’re hoping things get better instead of worse, but with central banks showing they’ll do whatever is necessary to control inflation, we can’t be so sure they will.  

Health Canada approved a new drug that could slow physical decline in over 3,000 Canadians living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease.

Sports organizations must meet new governance standards to receive federal funding in response to abuse allegations across several sports, including gymnastics and bobsled

Get off our water: China recently issued several warnings to the US to avoid the Taiwan Strait, which the country asserts is under its jurisdiction and not international waters.  

Green mine: Canada has partnered with BHP (the world’s largest miner) with a potential $100 million investment to develop a super sustainable potash mine in Saskatchewan.

Horse exports: Are a real thing, and protestors in Manitoba are demanding the federal government ban the industry (which ships thousands of horses annually for consumption). 

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Big oil companies are fleeing Alberta’s oil sands as the industry faces fire from the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing movement, per Bloomberg. 

What happened: UK energy giant BP is the latest company to shift away from the oil sands by selling its stake in Alberta’s Sunrise project to Calgary-based Cenovus Energy. In exchange, it’s getting a stake in an offshore project in Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Under pressure from investors committed to ESG targets, BP is selling off assets that produce a high amount of carbon emissions.

Environmental concerns have created problems for oil sands producers: Joe Biden pulled the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried Alberta crude oil to refineries in Texas, and companies like Shell have backed out of similar projects. 

Alberta’s oil sands have a high carbon footprint because of the energy it takes to extract from underground deposits. The province has imposed taxes on large industrial emitters to mitigate this issue, and industry players have developed proposals to hit net-zero emissions. 

Yes, but: Only ~15% of emissions associated with a barrel of oil come from extraction. Once the oil from Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore industry is actually used for energy, it produces just 6% less carbon than Alberta’s oil.  

Why it matters: Alberta’s oil sands would typically stand to gain from the global energy squeeze. Still, these days many large investors would prefer to instead put their money into energy that doesn’t endanger their environmental credentials.

🏠 ~25%. Percentage of Canadian homeowners who would be forced to sell their house if interest rates go up further (which they most definitely are), per a new survey from Manulife.

🍁 211.3 million. The record-number of pounds of maple syrup that Quebec producers harvested this year, owing thanks to an abnormally cold spring which extended the harvest period. 

👜$5 billion. Amount (in USD) that Chanel’s owners received in dividends last year as luxury goods sales soared. The rich spending money to make other rich people even richer… you love to see it.