The Bank of Canada’s Financial System Review is out. Typically a laundry list of what-if’s, this one comes during an unprecedented controlled burn, if you will. The main take-away is that, overall, the banking system can weather the impact, thanks largely to aggressive fiscal and monetary responses. This is good news.

Full Report here:Financial System Review

 

Meanwhile, we (Royal) have created an A.I.-focused research team, who recently produced data on traffic congestion in major cities. This sort of “Eye-in-the-sky-fender-bender-index” is an oddly-meaningful indicator right now. Like stock markets, global vehicle congestion drops severely, then climbs part way back. In the full report the team also examine Chinese shipping movements, air traffic, oil consumption, air pollutants, and even social media sentiment indicators to signal economic reengagement. Unlike acrimonious political commentators, data talks, but doesn’t talk back. A sampling of charts are pasted here:

https://ca.rbcwealthmanagement.com/delegate/services/file/2472978/content