Grant Stefanowski's blog

With countries starting to loosen lockdown restrictions, recently, The Economist published a video covering some of the considerations that must be made to ensure restarting the economy is done properly. To watch the video, please click HERE. 

There is no doubt that the current pandemic will forever alter retail, restaurants, and our city landscapes as we know it. Not since Prohibition, has the restaurant industry faced such a seismic shift. Recently, The Atlantic published an article discussing how not only the restaurant industry will change moving forward, but how cities as a whole will change. Economic downturns inevitably result in empty businesses and people moving to the suburbs, but in the long-run, the lower prices and vacancies in city centers can end up drawing in people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it.

On April 20th, 2020, the price of oil went into negative territory. For the first time in history, oil producers would pay traders to take oil off their hands and store it. When any significant event occurs, there is always a lot of information to sift through. So to that end, the excellent writers at visualcapitalist.com have created a simple piece explaining the causes of the decline along with what's needed to recover. For the full piece, please click HERE. 

One result of the coronavirus forcing many Canadians to stay home is a noticeable change in spending habits. With bars, restaurants, and shops closed, many people are noticing a rise in their bank account balance. Discretionary consumer spending is at extremely low levels, and a by-product of the current lock-down may be people taking a deeper look at their needs and wants.

With the coronavirus pandemic forcing many employees to work from home for the first time, the question is being asked, "Is working from home the new normal?" Writers at Forbes.com looked into the benefits and drawbacks of the current shift to remote work, such as a better work-life balance from not sitting in traffic, but on the flip-side there can be a lack of creativity from less in-person interaction. Obviously for some jobs working from home is impossible, but a long-term effect of the coronavirus may be companies saving money on renting office space and allowing people to work fr

There is no doubt that consumer retail sales have always been a driving force in in the global economy. But how those sales occur is rapidly changing. According to visualcapitalist.com, online retail sales are estimated to reach $6.5 trillion by 2023. E-commerce was always going to make up more-and-more of the entire retail space, but with the onset of the coronavirus, the global population's desire and need for online sales has only increased.

With all of the news circulating regarding Canadian Government economic assistance, we thought it would be helpful to provide a link to the Government of Canada website that contains all the information one may need. The website contains information and links for support for individuals, businesses, and industries. To go to the website, please click HERE. 

You may have recently heard of the Bank of Canada lowering interest rates to 0.25%. This is done during economic downturns to help support the economy and potentially lower the financial burden that individual Canadians face. By lowering the interest rate that banks use to lend to each other (the overnight rate), individuals will see an impact on everything from their mortgages and loans, to credit card payments, to the interest received on savings accounts.

Despite the rise of protectionism we were seeing prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the world's economy still relies on globalization. Undoubtedly, the coronavirus has negatively effected economic output. But, the migratory nature of the virus (moving from China, to Europe, to North America) may actually benefit the world's supply chains. As the virus moves, one country's demand will slow down, as another country's supply will increase. In theory, this should help global supply and demand.

Unexpected events such as the coronavirus are also known as 'Black Swan Events.' Few people could have predicted that the coronavirus would be the catalyst for the first Bear market in 11 years, but while this volatility in the markets may be hard to stomach, it is important to remember that Black Swan Events have come and gone throughout history.