I think I broke a personal record, I attended three (3) funerals in one day. The people I used to work with always asked me, Phil, where did you meet this client, and I would respond, at a funeral. Some laughed, others looked at me in disbelief, thinking I was some ambulance-chasing lawyer. Let’s face it, where do you interact with a large group of people the most? If it isn’t a wedding, it is usually a funeral. I am not trying to be disrespectful, I guess people are dying to see me? 

Nonetheless, a lot is going on before the Easter weekend. First, let’s start with the Bank of Canada(BOC), despite the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plummeting to 2.3% from the expected 2.6% in March. They left interest rates unchanged, explaining that there is too much uncertainty due to the tariff wars and the impact on inflation. 

The BOC is saving its bullet for another day not to exhaust all options. We have to understand, most of the inflation Canadians have been crippled by has been from the BOC’s money printing, accelerated by a Liberal government, hell-bent on bankrupting Canada. 

Looking at the Federal Reserve, a tiff exploded as the Administration couldn’t wait long enough for the termination of the present Chairman Powell. The Fed is steadfast in wanting to wait to see the effect of tariffs on inflation, or are they just asserting a power play while the President clearly wants interest rates to be lower to help the economy transition. 

Meanwhile, Weekly Jobless Claims came down to 215k vs expected (224k), meaning more people are working, less collecting unemployment benefits. 

Further, the European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates for the sixth (6th) consecutive time by 0.25%. Most concerning was the escalation of a tariff trade war and its potential impact on European growth. 

Not surprisingly, as the USD Index continues to fall, now in the 99.40 range, the concerns of inflation, the lowering of interest rates in America, have given rise to Gold. The Precious Metal hit a New Record High @ USD$3358/oz, on the road to USD$3500/oz. On the other hand, Silver remains steady in the USD$32/oz range, not materializing in the Gold on steroids investment. But it will once the all-time high is taken out, somewhere over the USD$50/oz level. Then the sky is the limit! 

The price of Oil has been most volatile. It is presently just shy of the USD$63/B level, coming back from below the USD$57/oz mark. The CAD$ is back in the 0.72 cent vicinity due to a combination of factors, but mostly a reflection of overall USD weakness. Like everything in this world, what goes up eventually comes down. Bitcoin remains steady in the USD$84k/coin vicinity.