Yeah for Yellen! Give us boring!
So, kids, Janet was the Fed head for four years. Yes, a central banker, The first woman in that role. Steady, serene, cautious, predictable. Just like your mother. Only with a PhD from Yale and experience as a professor emeritus, advisor to two presidents, a background of public finance policy, two law doctorates and once named as the second most powerful woman in the world (after your mom).
So the markets went up like an excited banana on the JY news with the Dow passing thirty thousand for the first time. The euphoria comes as Biden officially moves into his prez-elect role, as a third new vaccine bursts forth and as it become apparent America will, for the first time in four years, be run by adults. Yellen. Kerry. Blinken. Biden. Now the country can get serious about the virus.
There are also high-fives on Wall Street that crazy Liz Warren was not given a cabinet post in charge of the economy. This sends out a giant signal the old guy intends to govern from the centre, not the leftish fringes. It makes smoke of all that fear-mongering Trump rhetoric about Biden being a Trojan Horse for the rad Dems who crave dismantling the economy, killing capitalism and turning Washington into Stockholm.
What does Yellen stand for?
Look at her record.
She was reticent to raise rates during her tenure as bank boss. She continues to say the economy needs “extraordinary fiscal support.” Yellen believes in monetary stimulus, in backstopping financial markets. She’s an advocate of jobs and growth, and it was a surprise to many when Trump dumped her from the CB in 2018.
So, remember all those anti-Fed tweetstorms flooding out of the White House, confusing markets and undermining the authority and gravitas of the central bank? Yup, gone. Now the administration and the Fed will be on the same page, working together, supporting and promoting the post-virus recovery. The Street is a happy place. Uppa she goes. I seriously hope you have stayed invested through all of 2020.
Source: NY Times
Meanwhile, what are we fixating on in virus-addled Canada?
Moving into a glorified tin can, it seems. According to a new study by Point2Homes, Canadians have been Googling up a storm when it comes to mobile homes. Searches online have risen 49% nationally and doubled in a few provinces for manufactured houses – those ugly narrow metal things with vestigial wheels that you see on the news flipped over like dead turtles after storms in Arkansas.
The appeal? They’re cheap compared to currently-ridiculous real estate prices. You can rent a pad to land it, rather than having to buy dirt. You can heat one with a good hair dryer. And they’re mobile. Sort of. But you need an F150 with a hitch, a red ball cap and a satellite link to Cowpoke Radio.
Now, to be fair, almost anything looks good compared to what’s happening in The Big Smoke. Toronto and a fat hunk of the 905 shut down on Monday as the second wave swept over the region. Restaurants, bars, hair salons, malls, most retail stores – they are all shuttered or hobbled for the next 26 days (at least). It’s the most devastating blow ever experienced during the most important shopping period of the year. Meanwhile realtors are idled with open houses forbidden and potential buyers spooked. The per-foot price of downtown condos has dropped by a hundred bucks in the last few weeks.
What next?
This will last a long time, apparently. Ridership on the buses and streetcars is running at 38% of pre-Covid levels, but the real story is with the GO network of commuter trains and buses feeding into the urban core. Patrons here comprise more white-collar dudes with downtown jobs who scuttle through tunnels and underground walkways into the core skyscrapers. The volume of passengers here is sitting at an incredible 7.6% of year-ago levels.
The city of Toronto appears ready to throw in the towel and let most of its 14,600 office employees continue to WFH because (naturally) it’s cheaper not to house them. Of the 55 properties the local government now owns or leases, forty will be dumped over the coming months. That’s a million square feet of space coming to market, which will surely have an impact on commercial rental rates.
By the way, the city surveyed all its thousands of civil servants, asking where they’re prefer to work from. Over 95% said they want to stay home.
Rona 1, work ethic 0.
There’ll be some tasty deals on DT real estate this winter.