Oct. 23, 2020

MILLENIALS AND DEMOCRACY (UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE STUDY)

  • Young people are less satisfied with democracy and more disillusioned than at any other time in the past century, especially in Europe, North America, Africa and Australia.
  • Millennials (born 1981-1996) are most affected.
  • Main reason is inequality of wealth and income.
    • Millennials make up approximately 25% of the US population but hold just 3% of the wealth
    • Baby boomers held 21% of the wealth at the same age

COVID-19 UPDATE

  • Ontario cancelled trick-or-treating in COVID-19 hot zones.
  • Canada together with Alberta will be testing international travelers for COVID-19 upon entry, if they are negative and agree to a second test within 7 days, they can forgo quarantine.
  • Canada extended the non-essential US travel ban until November 21st.
  • US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has issued ‘strong’ calls for wearing masks on airplanes and trains.
  • About 24 US vaccine advisers are questioning whether safety and efficacy standards set by the FDA are high enough to warrant emergency authorization of a vaccine. (50% success is too low)
  • California says it will independently review the safety of new COVID-19 vaccines and initial plans for distribution.
  • Vergesense, a company that has 30,000 object-recognition sensors deployed in office buildings around the world, found that 60% of interactions among North America workers violate the US CDC social distancing guidelines. The rate is even higher in Asia, where offices are usually smaller.

ENERGY

  • Province of Alberta says it will stop setting monthly oil production limits by the end of 2020.
  • Province of Alberta granted a 3-year property tax ‘holiday’ on new wells and pipelines, plus removed a well-drilling equipment tax.
  • OPEC+ said that oil demand is ‘anemic’ and they will act to prevent a further ‘relapse’ in oil prices.
    • Next meeting is December 1
  • Conoco has pledged ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2045, with a reduction of up to 45% by 2030.
    • This does not include emissions from customers burning or processing the hydrocarbons they produce

CHINA

  • China passed a new law restricting sensitive exports to protect national security.
    • Will apply to all companies
    • China can take “reciprocal measures” toward countries or regions that abuse export controls and threaten its national security and interests
  • China’s 3rd quarter GDP grew 4.9% vs 5.5% expected.
    • Both retail sales and industrial production gained momentum in September

TIDBITS

  • Laurentian Bank of Canada named Rania Llewellyn as CEO, the first woman CEO of top 8 bank in Canada.
  • NASA picked Nokia to build the first cellular (LTE/4G) network on the moon.
    • Will be used to remotely control lunar rovers, allow real-time navigation and streaming of HD video
  • September 2020, travel agencies sold $1 billion in airline tickets for the first time since March.