The latest supply shortage to hit Canada: newborns. The country’s fertility rate fell to its lowest level on record in 2022, with a paltry 1.33 children born per woman that year.

Driving the news: Fertility rates have been dropping since 2009, but briefly spiked in 2020 and 2021 when everyone was stuck inside with nothing better to do than hunker down and… you know 😏. When the world re-opened in 2022, it led to the steepest year-over-over drop since 1972 (which was spurred by the decriminalization of contraception and abortion).

Like a boxer hanging on by a thread, one of China’s biggest real estate developers is being forced to throw in the towel. 

What happened: A Hong Kong court ordered China’s Evergrande, now the world’s most indebted real estate developer, to sell off assets to pay off its humongous debt of US$300 billion owed to foreign and domestic creditors — after two years of failing to restructure it. 

Between the U.S. S&P 500 and China's CSI 300, which major stock index would you guess is up 20% in the past year, and which one fell by 20%?  

Answer: The CSI 300 has lost more than a third of its value since 2020 and is entering its fourth consecutive year in the red.

Thousands of Canadians have been left like a young Ashton Kutcher, dejectedly asking, “Dude, where’s my car?”

Driving the news: Authorities in Italy recovered 251 stolen vehicles from Canada — ready to be shipped to the Middle East — after completing a bust at one of Europe’s busiest ports. 

The Bank of Canada’s path to its 2% inflation target seems to be getting a little clearer.

What happened: The BoC held the key interest rate at 5% again yesterday. According to Governor Tiff Macklem, the narrative is shifting from if the BoC will lower borrowing costs to when, with some economists predicting rate cuts by late spring. 

If we’re still in a “vibecession,” someone forgot to tell the stock market — over there, things are better than ever.

What happened: The S&P500 cracked a new all-time high at the end of trading last week, closing at 4,839.81, just past the previous record set in January of 2022. 

 On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Roger Aliaga-Díaz, Vanguard's Global Head of Portfolio Construction and Chief Economist for the Americas, to talk about his outlook for the economy in the year ahead and how the last cycle is shaping his thinking. 

The federal government will look at capping the number of international students admitted to Canada in the coming months, Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters, saying the system “has gotten out of control.” 

Why it matters: The number of people coming to study in Canada from abroad has surged, climbing to around 900,000 last year, and worsening a housing shortage that’s driven rents up by 22% over the past two years.

Investors are starting to question the existence of Santa Claus… as far as the guy with the big, white, fluffy beard relates to markets, that is. 

Driving the news: Experts are backtracking on the once-sure bet of the "Santa Claus Rally," a phenomenon where markets surge during the last five trading days of a year — which means it starts today — and the first two of the next, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Better start baking those welcome cookies now, because you’ve got a million new neighbours to welcome.

What happened: Canada’s population grew by more than 1 million over the first nine months of the year, according to newly released Statistics Canada data.