Scotiabank Targets Canada's Affluent South Asians in ICICI Pact
It's part of a broader push to sell fee-based services like financial planning and specialized advice to 'cultural segments' in Canada that haven't been well-served by the banking sector, according to Jacqui Allard, Scotiabank's group head of global wealth management.
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Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Subdued dollar firms after ECB leaves rates alone; tariffs and Fed in focus
By Alden Bentley and Stefano Rebaudo (Reuters) -The dollar traded sideways versus the euro on Thursday after the European Central Bank held rates steady, and was confined to a tight range against the yen as prospects for higher Japanese rates offset worries about political risk after Sunday's elections. The greenback showed fractional gains late in a subdued U.S. session, with investors girding for a busy news flow next week. The European Central Bank left its policy rate at 2%, as expected, on Thursday, taking a break after a year of policy easing to wait for clarity over Europe's future trade relations with the United States. "The view that the ECB is probably on hold here is probably gaining a bit more traction. We've trimmed expectations for the cuts in September to certainly less than 50/50," said Shaun Osborne, chief foreign exchange strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto. The Japanese central bank's deputy governor, Shinichi Uchida, said Tuesday's trade deal with Washington had reduced economic uncertainty, comments that fuelled optimism in the market about the potential resumption of interest rate hikes. Analysts believe the yen will face persistent headwinds after Sunday's upper house election, with the opposition considering a no-confidence motion. The European Union is nearing a deal that would impose a broad 15% tariff on EU goods, diplomats said. The rate, which could also extend to cars, would mirror the framework agreement the United States struck with Japan. "The ECB faces a challenge that is quantitatively different from the BoJ's," said Thierry Wizman, global forex and rates strategist at Macquarie Group. "The euro has appreciated by far more than the JPY so far in 2025, meaning that the disinflationary impulse from U.S. import tariffs may be greater in the EU than in Japan, or the ECB may suspect as much," he added. PMI data showed fragility in France following budget-cut proposals there, but also resilience in Germany and other parts of the euro zone. Data showed that German business activity continued to grow marginally in July. "As of now, there has been very little tariff impact on the hard data," said Mohit Kumar, economist at Jefferies. ECONOMIC FALLOUT Meanwhile, risk assets rallied as the trade deals eased fears over the economic fallout of a global trade war. Next week the Federal Open Market Committee meets and is expected to leave rates where they are as policy makers wait for the expected impact from tariffs on inflation and growth to show up. Traders are now pricing in a 60% chance of a quarter point September rate cut, according to CME's FedWatch tool. A number of U.S. employment releases next week culminate with Friday's big June payrolls report, while the July Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index and the first revision to 2nd quarter Gross Domestic Product could also move markets. "A lot of event risk next week and not just from the Fed, we've got a lot of data next week as well, so that's probably going to shape expectations to some extent for September," Osborne said. The euro was last off 0.03% $1.1766, near the $1.1830 high from earlier this month, which marked its strongest level in more than three years. Against the yen, the dollar was 0.27% firmer at 146.88, having hit a two-week low earlier in the session at 145.86. Olivier Korber, forex strategist at Societe Generale, expects the yen to strengthen further, citing support from the trade deal and prospects for higher interest rates. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied on Wednesday he had decided to quit after a source and media reports said he planned to announce his resignation to take responsibility for a bruising upper house election defeat. Currencies mostly shrugged off news that U.S. President Donald Trump, a vocal critic of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, will visit the central bank on Thursday, a surprise move that escalates tensions between the administration and the Fed. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies including the euro and yen, rose 0.17% to 97.36. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin rose 1.17% to $119,376.30. Ethereum rose 4.62% to $3,735.62. Sign in to access your portfolio
American Press
18 hours ago
- American Press
Louisiana spotlight: Nungesser keeping state top of mind for those ready to explore
Traveling has been significantly increasing since the decline during the COVID-19 pandemic — and Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and his team are working hard to keep Louisiana top of mind for those ready to explore. Last year, Nungesser said his office used a U.S. Commerce Department grant to increase awareness of Louisiana as a travel destination in Mumbai and New Delhi, India; Madrid, Spain; and Milan, Italy. In a few months, the team will spend a week in Canada promoting the Bayou State and its French heritage. Canada 'is about 33 percent of our international market,' Nungesser told members of the Rotary Club of Lake Charles Wednesday afternoon. 'Those Canadians love them some Louisiana.' In Paris, the Louisiana Office of Tourism also wrapped taxi cabs serving as rolling billboards to inspire travel to the state and it sponsored the London Jazz Festival last year. Nungesser said Louisiana welcomed 43 million domestic and international visitors in 2023, the most recent data available. Those visitors spent a total of $18.1 billion, an increase of 5.4 percent over 2022. International visitation showed the most significant gain, he said, increasing 16.9 percent in 2023 with spending reaching $1.7 billion. Louisiana has also been on the national stage in recent months with an alligator-themed float that crawled the streets of Pasadena, Calif., for the 136th annual Rose Parade and again as host to the Super Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans. 'Somebody asked me what do we do better than anyone else and I said Mardi Gras,' Nungesser said. 'So we found out what parades we could go to. We were in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for three years and now we're in the Rose Parade.' Though the floats are professionally designed, they are decorated by volunteers days before the parade. Every float is covered in flowers, leaves, seeds, bark and other natural materials to honor the Rose Parade's history. Nungesser said volunteers from Louisiana are flown to California and are shuttled between the warehouse where the float is being built to their accommodations. A New Orleans native who now resides in California brings her beignets-only food truck each day to feed the volunteers during their shifts and the best of Louisiana cuisine is served each night. 'It's a trip everybody should make,' he said. For more on volunteering, visit Nungesser said participation in the parade 'allows us to drive awareness about our state as a vacation destination to a broad number of attendees, as well as viewers watching from home,' Nungesser said. 'The return on investment for the Rose Parade has been incredible.' Nungesser said the Rose Parade media coverage — thanks to a plethora of morning show interviews aired across the nation as the float is being built — for the past four years reached an estimated 10.4 billion people and was worth $144.9 million. State Parks When Nungesser took office nearly a decade ago, seven state parks were under the threat of closure. 'I was told, 'You don't have the money to keep them open and they're in pretty bad shape,' ' he said. 'Thanks to our sheriffs and local volunteers we were able to do a lot of repair and get them presentable and today those seven parks are making a profit.' The Louisiana Office of State Parks operates 21 state parks, 14 historic sites and a preservation area that comprises 45,000 acres, 110 miles of roads and 1.2 million square feet of rental facilities that welcomed more than 1.75 million visitors last year. He said his new goal is creating resort conference centers within some of the state parks to attract visiting conferences. 'We have over 350 groups that meet every year all over Louisiana,' he said. 'They don't meet in New Orleans because the hotel does not cover their per diem, but they meet everywhere else. There's usually 300-500 people and it's a great opportunity for us and it would be a great for the local economies. One thing we won't do is we won't let anyone open a restaurant (within the conference centers) or anything that would compete with local businesses.' One state park thriving at the moment is Bogue Chitto — a top destination for travelers nationwide for its mountain biking trails, which are maintained by the North Shore Off-Road Bicycling Association. 'A thousand people a month from 10-15 states go to Washington Parish for this mountain bike trail,' he said. 'We also have horseback riding. We brought a gentleman's horses into the park and let him run the business out of the park and he's knocking it out of the park, no pun intended. These two private-public partnerships have put Washington Parish on the map. Before they had very little tourism. It has changed that town forever.' Prime Video just completed a documentary on the mountain bike trails and 25 percent of the proceeds will go into building additional trails. He said the park recently acquired an additional 600 acres to expand the mountain bike and horseback riding trails. Museums Nungesser's office oversees nine museums; the Secretary of State's office and some local cities operate the rest. He said he hopes to introduce a bill next year that would force all museums to be open on the weekends — every museum operated under the Secretary of State's Office are not — when people are off work and more likely to visit. His office has also bought the website and plans to video every museum in the state. 'We did a video about the ghost that's upstairs at the Beauregard Gothic Jail — I don't know if it's there but the lady has me convinced and I'm not going up to check — and we test marketed to people who like ghosts and at Halloween, 4,000 people showed up to find that ghost,' he said. 'If you have a ghost, we will promote it and they will come.' He said most are aware of the World War II Museum in New Orleans. Now promotions will tie in Chennault Aviation and Military Museum in Monroe, the Louisiana Military Museum in Abbeville and others to draw in like-minded visitors. He also wants to give all museums the freedom to hire the directors of their choice. Right now, that responsibility falls under the office that oversees the facility. Louisiana seafood Several key pieces of legislation passed during the 2024 Regular Legislative Session affected the seafood industry in the state. Act 47 mandates restaurants serving imported crawfish or shrimp must officially inform their customers on the menu; Act 148 requires restaurants and food service establishments to label on menus all imported seafood as such, not just shrimp and crawfish; and Act 756 transferred the Seafood Safety Task Force to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board to help in the regulation of imported seafood. 'We want people to ask before they eat. The goal is to prevent imported seafood — which is filled with a lot of antibiotics — to come into this country and to level the playing field for our Louisiana fishermen,' he said. 'If you eat Boudreaux's crawfish tails, they're going to be from Boudreaux's. They're not going to be from Thailand.' Keep Louisiana Beautiful Love the Boot Week is Louisiana's largest litter removal and beautification effort. During 2024, 19,441 people volunteered a total of 100,712 hours at over 760 events, removing a record 347 tons of litter in all 64 parishes. 'It has become a movement,' Nungesser said. Their efforts diverted 293 pounds of aluminum cans and 330 pounds of plastic bottles from the landfill allowing the items to be recycled. Next month, the office will be handing out buckets at marinas around the state, asking boaters and fishermen to scoop up any trash they may see on the waterways and shorelines. 'We're not going to take our foot off the gas until we have no more trash in Louisiana,' Nungesser said.
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Ever wondered what financial experts read? Five books to guide you on your investment journey
When it comes to your financial future, knowledge is power. And yet, many Canadians feel out of touch when it comes to finding the right information needed to make informed decisions about their money, from financing a home to learning how to tackle debt. A 2024 poll from Edward Jones Canada found that 84 per cent of Canadians believe financial education in school would have helped them manage finances with less stress today. And 64 per cent of respondents who did not learn how to manage their money in their younger years are now looking to upgrade their knowledge. Tina Tehranchian, certified financial planner at Assante Capital Management, Jason Heath, managing director at Objective Financial Partners and Scott Plaskett, certified financial planner and CEO of Ironshield Financial Planning, share five of their favourite books that might just include the knowledge you need to kick-start your personal finance journey. Author, John C. Bogle Heath is partial to the classics. First published in 2007, 'The Little Book of Common Sense Investing' from Vanguard Group's founder takes a straightforward approach to explaining the investing world. The book draws on wisdom from financial titans like Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham and Paul Samuelson to describe the most straightforward and effective investment strategies for building wealth over the long term. 'It talks a lot about the merit of index funds, how difficult it is to beat the markets,' says Heath, and is good for anyone 'looking for a different take on investing.' Author, David Trahair Heath first picked up this book in the nineties, at the beginning of his career. 'It's about how to get through the noise of what the financial industry wants you to buy.' Heath says you likely won't find Smoke and Mirrors on a bestsellers list, but Trahair's book opened his eyes early in his career. 'Like most people, I expected that the financial industry was there to help consumers and look out for their best interests, but that's often not the case.' [part of this quote was incomplete] Author, David McWilliams In this book, Tehranchian says McWilliams masterfully blends economics, history and human psychology to tell the story of money, not as a cold financial instrument but as a human invention shaped by trust, belief and social norms. 'It challenges you to see money not just as a ledger of numbers, but as a cultural force that reflects who we are and how we live,' says Tehranchian. 'Understanding this deeper story equips readers to make more thoughtful, values-driven financial decisions.' Tehranchian also points out that the book is beginner-friendly, as McWilliams gives simple explanations about complex topics. One of Tehranchian's favourite quotes from 'Money: A Story of Humanity' is about how cryptocurrency's volatility renders it ideal for speculation: ' … Who would ever punt on a boring, stable asset? But this is the very same property that renders it dysfunctional as a means of payment and therefore as money.' Plaskett says if you're looking for a book that challenges ('Kills') most of the common financial advice ('Sacred Cows') like budgeting or deferring gratification, Gunderson's book should be next on your reading list. He points out that 'Killing Sacred Cows' helps the reader avoid the most common financial institutions' 'traps,' which primarily benefit the financial institutions more than the client. The core theme of the book, Plaskett adds, is that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' type of advice, and it helps people avoid getting caught in the web of 'one-size-fits-all' [add dashes] advice that is promoted and encouraged by the financial industry. 'This advice is mainly based on fear and scarcity rather than abundance and personal empowerment.' Plaskett explains that his second recommendation is a great followup to 'Killing Sacred Cows.' 'Because once you commit to building financial freedom by aligning your approach to money with your purpose, you end up challenging the masses and bumping up against obstacles.' 'The Obstacle Is The Way' draws on stoic philosophy to help you overcome challenges and achieve personal growth and success, explains Plaskett. 'It is a great book that places the power directly on the shoulders of the reader.' A notable quote from the book, Plaskett adds, is: 'You will come across obstacles in life — fair and unfair. And you will discover, time and time again, that what matters most is not what these obstacles are, but how you see them, how you react to them, and whether you keep your composure.'
