Author: Consultant

Natural gas prices continue to soar

Gas home heating costs are set to rise as furnaces come on for the cool fall weather.

Interim Ontario NDP leader Peter Tabuns has called on the Doug Ford government to help families struggling with higher bills.

“Families were already feeling squeezed by the skyrocketing cost of everything, and people are extremely worried about another natural gas price increase as winter approaches,” Tabuns said in a statement Tuesday. “Will families be forced to wear their winter coats and mittens inside to keep their heating costs down? Will seniors on fixed incomes be forced to cut back their grocery budgets even more than they already have?”

Average natural gas prices are set to rise Oct. 1 by $64.80 annually to $163.83 a year for a typical residential user depending on the provider, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) says.

For Enbridge customers, the price hike is $74.18 a year.

“Natural gas is a commodity that is bought and sold on North American energy markets,” the OEB said in a statement. “At any given time, its price fluctuates based on a variety of factors including supply and demand, seasonal changes, levels of stored natural gas, and major weather events.”

According to the OEB, the effective price of natural gas has more than doubled since Oct. 1, 2021.

The OEB offers an emergency Low-income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) for electricity or natural gas customers who are behind on their bills and at risk of having their service shut off.

The Ontario government announced Tuesday that it would provide up to $4.5 million through a Clean Home Heating Initiative to bring hybrid heat pumps to up to 1,000 homes in St. Catharines, London, Peterborough and Sault Ste. Marie. The electric heat pumps replace existing air conditioners in the summer, but can also operate in reverse in cooler seasons to provide home heating.

Palmer Lockridge, a spokesperson for Energy Minister Todd Smith, said the NDP support carbon taxing and campaigned against lowering the gas tax during the spring election.

“If it were up to the NDP, Ontario families would be paying more for home heating,” Lockridge said.

The OEB reviews natural gas rates every three months and does not permit utilities to earn a profit on the sale of the commodity, he said.

“These rates reflect the rise and fall of the global price of natural gas which are currently being driven by global events, including Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Lockridge said.

Nord Stream pipelines hit by suspicious leaks in possible sabotage; Russia says it has ‘a right’ to use nuclear weapons

Tuesday is the final day of voting in a series of referendums on joining Russia. The votes, widely seen as rigged and illegitimate, are likely to pave the way for Russia to announce it has annexed more of Ukraine by the end of the week, analysts say.

The votes have been taking place in two pro-Russian, self-proclaimed “republics” in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and southern occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

There have been multiple reports of votes being staged and coercion and aggression being used to force people living in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to vote in favor of joining Russia.

Electoral officials have gone door to door with portable ballot boxes from last Friday until yesterday. Polling stations will only open today, Tuesday, with officials citing security reasons.

In other news, Russia has again insisted it has a “right” to use nuclear weapons if its territory is threatened, and several suspicious leaks have hit the Nord Stream pipelines, with experts not ruling out sabotage

Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine (cnbc.com)

Major Asia markets down 2%; Chinese yuan at weakest since 2008

Major indexes in the Asia-Pacific briefly dipped 2% after the S&P 500 set a new 2022 low overnight on Wall Street. The offshore and onshore Chinese yuan reached weakest levels since 2008.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 briefly fell 2% and last traded 1.7% lower, while the Topix index slipped 1.37%.

Minutes from the Bank of Japan’s July meeting said a few policy board members see consumer inflation slowing in fiscal 2023 unless commodity prices continue to rise.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also fell 2% and last traded at 1.82 lower. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.44% lower and the Shenzhen Component fell more than 1%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 1.12%. The Kospi in South Korea shed 2.1%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.33% lower.

Asia markets: Stocks fall, Chinese yuan crosses 7.2 against the dollar (cnbc.com)

Sept 27: TSX Fails To Hold Early Gains, Ends Marginally Down

After opening higher and staying firm till a little before noon, the Canadian market turned subdued and moved along the flat line on Tuesday and finally ended the session on a slightly weak note.

Slowing global economy, and tighter monetary policy stance of several central banks rendered the mood cautious.

Energy and materials shares moved higher on firm crude oil and gold prices. Shares from utilities and financials sectors were weak.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed nearly 230 points to 18,546.76 earlier in the session, ended with a loss of 19.13 points or 0.1% at 18,307.91, about 60 points off the day’s low of 18,247.74.

Athabasca Oil Corporation (ATH.TO) rallied 8%. Tamarack Valley Energy (TVE.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) and Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) gained 4.5 to 6%.

Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) also posted notable gains.

Dye & Durham (DND.TO) soared 17.3%. Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) surged 10.1%. Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO), Methanex Corporation (MX.TO), CargoJet (CJT.TO), Sprott (SII.TO), Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) gained 3 to 5%.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) ended lower by 2.2% and 1.2%, respectively, on strong volumes.

WSP Global (WSP.TO), CCL Industries (CCL.B.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) were among the other prominent losers.

Australian Federal Police Gathers Crucial Evidence In Optus Data Breach

The Australian Federal Police has revealed that it is gathering “crucial evidence” from the breach of Optus data. The officials said that “working closely” with overseas law enforcement authorities to identify the offenders behind the hack of telecom provider Optus.

“Operation Hurricane has been launched to identify the criminals behind the alleged breach and to help shield Australians from identity fraud,” the AFP said in a statement.

Optus, Australia’s second-largest telecommunications company, last week disclosed that it was hacked. The company faced $1 million extortion demand to prevent the sale of what an attacker says are up to 11.2 million sensitive customer records.

The information includes a customer’s name, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, driver’s licenses, and passport numbers, but no account passwords or financial information.

Optus is a subsidiary of the Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate Singtel Group. The company claimed that it “immediately shut down the attack” as soon as it came to light.

According to reports, the hacker has also released a sample of 10,200 records from the breach on dark web.

Assistant Commissioner Cyber Command Justine Gough said while the investigation was going to be extremely complex and very lengthy it was important to note that the AFP specialized in investigations of this type.

“This is an ongoing investigation, but it is important the community knows the AFP and our partners are doing everything within scope to identify the offenders responsible, and to also ensure we can protect individuals who are now potentially vulnerable to identity theft,” Assistant Commissioner Gough said.

“We are aware of reports of stolen data being sold on the dark web and that is why the AFP is monitoring the dark web using a range of specialist capabilities. Criminals, who use pseudonyms and anonymizing technology, can’t see us but I can tell you that we can see them.

Apple To Make IPhone 14 In India

Tech giant Apple Inc. (AAPL) has shifted some production of its flagship smartphone iPhone 14 from China to India.

“The new iPhone 14 lineup introduces groundbreaking new technologies and important safety capabilities. We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India,” the company said in a statement.

Foxconn, which is Apple’s key iPhone assembler, will manufacture the smartphone at its Sriperumbudur factory on the outskirts of Chennai, India.

This is the first time the company will be manufacturing its latest smartphone model in India, although it had been building older models in the country since 2017.

Apple launched the iPhone 14 earlier this month. The company will sell India-produced phones locally but also export them to other markets globally.

Apple assembles most of its iPhones in China, however, the continuing tensions between the US and China has prompted the company to transfer some of its production outside the country.

World Bank Cuts East Asia & Pacific Growth Outlook

The World Bank downgraded its growth projections for the East Asia and the Pacific region as the zero-COVID approach dampened China’s economic growth, while most of the other countries of the region rebounded in the first half of 2022.

The Washington-based lender forecast East Asia and Pacific to expand 3.2 percent this year instead of 5.0 percent projected in April. The growth rate is expected to improve to 4.6 percent in 2023.

China, which constitutes around 86 percent of the region’s output, is forecast to grow only 2.8 percent this year versus the prior outlook of 5.0 percent. The government targets around 5.5 percent growth for this year.

This was also much weaker than the 8.1 percent growth estimated for 2021 as the zero-COVID measures disrupted supply chains, industrial and services production, domestic sales, and exports. GDP growth is seen at 4.5 percent next year.

By Renju Jaya   ✉  | Published: 9/27/2022 7:07 AM ET

The World Bank downgraded its growth projections for the East Asia and the Pacific region as the zero-COVID approach dampened China’s economic growth, while most of the other countries of the region rebounded in the first half of 2022.

The Washington-based lender forecast East Asia and Pacific to expand 3.2 percent this year instead of 5.0 percent projected in April. The growth rate is expected to improve to 4.6 percent in 2023.

China, which constitutes around 86 percent of the region’s output, is forecast to grow only 2.8 percent this year versus the prior outlook of 5.0 percent. The government targets around 5.5 percent growth for this year.

This was also much weaker than the 8.1 percent growth estimated for 2021 as the zero-COVID measures disrupted supply chains, industrial and services production, domestic sales, and exports. GDP growth is seen at 4.5 percent next year.

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Most of the other region is projected to grow faster and have lower inflation in 2022 than other regions. The robust recovery of private consumption in the first half of 2022, sustained global demand for EAP goods and commodities and the limited tightening so far of fiscal and monetary policy helped the region to post strong growth during much of 2022.

Global deceleration, rising debt and policy distortions could be a drag on growth. The bank observed that measures to contain inflation and debt are adding to existing distortions in a way that could hurt growth.

“Policymakers face a tough tradeoff between tackling inflation and supporting economic recovery,” said World Bank East Asia and Pacific Chief Economist Aaditya Mattoo.

“Controls and subsidies muddy price signals and hurt productivity. Better policies for food, fuel, and finance would spur growth and insure against inflation,” Mattoo added.

U.S. Consumer Confidence Improves Much More Than Expected In September

Consumer confidence in the U.S. improved much more than expected in the month of September, the Conference Board revealed in a report released on Tuesday.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index climbed to 108.0 in September from an upwardly revised 103.6 in August.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 104.3 from the 103.2 originally reported for the previous month.

“Consumer confidence improved in September for the second consecutive month supported in particular by jobs, wages, and declining gas prices,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at the Conference Board.

The bigger than expected increase by the headline index came as the present situation index increased to 149.6 in September from 145.3 in August, while the expectations index rose to 80.3 from 75.8.

“Concerns about inflation dissipated further in September—prompted largely by declining prices at the gas pump—and are now at their lowest level since the start of the year,” said Franco. “Meanwhile, purchasing intentions were mixed, with intentions to buy automobiles and big-ticket appliances up, while home purchasing intentions fell.”

She added, “Looking ahead, the improvement in confidence may bode well for consumer spending in the final months of 2022, but inflation and interest-rate hikes remain strong headwinds to growth in the short term.”

On Friday, the University of Michigan is scheduled to release its revised reading on consumer sentiment in the month of September.

The consumer sentiment index for September is expected to be unrevised from the preliminary reading of 59.5, which was up from 58.2 in August.

UK lenders halt mortgage deals to customers after market chaos

• The British bond and currency markets have been in turmoil since Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng announced his “mini-budget” on Friday.
• The yield on the U.K. 10-year gilt soared to levels not seen since 2008 on Monday, while the British pound plummeted to an all-time low against the dollar.
• Markets have begun pricing in a base rate rise to as high as 6% for next year, from 2.25% currently, raising concerns among mortgage lenders and borrowers.

UK lenders halt mortgage deals to customers after market chaos (cnbc.com)