This week in Canadian markets is ending with competing visions of how inflationary forces will play out into 2022.
In one camp, we have the Bank of Canada (BoC), whose Governor, Tiff Macklem, put an end to quantitative easing during Wednesday’s meeting and indicated an interest rate hike for mid-2022. The BoC sees these measures as the antidote to the country’s post-pandemic economic rebound, which is estimated at 5.5-6.1 per cent for 2021.
In the second camp, we have economists arguing that the causes behind Canada’s rising inflation – with August’s 4.1-per-cent rise representing the highest one-month move up since 2003 – have little to do with the country itself. Instead, they see port backlogs, international energy shortages and consequences from sub-bar pandemic responses as the drivers behind rising prices, which may prove transitory over the next 6-12 months. If so, raising interest rates may end up harming economic growth compared to keeping borrowing costs lower for longer.
Which side will come out the victor? Only time will tell. Until then, Canadians are continuing to invest with an optimistic view of the future.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index, down 0.61 per cent for the week, has maintained an over 20-per-cent gain for the year.
The Canadian dollar, surging after the BoC’s announcement, gave back its gains against the greenback this morning, settling at US$0.81/C$1 just short of a five-year high.
Short term Canadian government bonds also surged to just under the 1-per-cent mark, pricing in elevated inflation expectations which, as we just discussed, may prove illusory if patience is allowed to prevail.
Market Herald Canada readers, for their part, remained focused on small cap opportunities still nascent enough to evade institutional capital, lending their attention to companies in energy, technology and consumer discretionary.
Let’s dive in.
Aquarius AI (CSE:AQUA) partners with Luxor Technology Corporation
Aquarius AI has entered into a managed service agreement with Luxor Technology Corporation.
Luxor is a U.S.-based Bitcoin mining technology and services company focused on providing investors with a full-service investment vehicle for cryptocurrency mining.
It will manage AQUA’s application-specific integrated circuit mining hardware procurement, carbon-neutral power procurement and data centre support services, as well as provide financing advisory services.
Luxor will also manage all of Aquarius AI’s future Bitcoin mining operations.
Aquarius AI is up by 53.33 per cent over the past week trading at $0.12 per share as of 12:41 pm ET.
i3 Energy PLC (TSX:ITE) provides Q3 updates
The oil and gas company is focused on optimizing its existing asset base and growing through the acquisition of long-life and low-decline conventional production assets.
i3 CEO Majid Shafiq sat down with The Market Herald Canada’s Caroline Egan to discuss the highlights.
i3 Energy is down by 2.33 per cent over the past week trading at $0.21 per share as of 12:27 pm ET.
Datametrex (TSXV:DM) signs $950K contract with Samsung, Shinhan Financial Group and Lotte
Datametrex AI has received purchase orders from Lotte Data Communication, Samsung Electronics and the Shinhan Financial Group.
The purchase order from Samsung and Shinhan is for an AI-powered task automation system designed to streamline and optimize banking operations. The system, known as JobMind, is being designed to decrease human error by flagging banking transaction errors and notifying impacted parties.
Datametrex AI is up by 5.88 per cent over the past week trading at $0.18 per share as of 12:10 pm ET.
Nextech AR (CSE:NTAR) partners with Asian ecommerce aggregators
Nextech AR Solutions has announced that multiple ecommerce aggregators are using Threedy.ai, the company’s AR for ecommerce solutions.
The aggregators, representing approximately 400,000 ecommerce sites, will act as referral partners in Asia for Threedy.ai.
Threedy.ai leverages AI to build 3D models from simple 2D photos at scale for ecommerce websites. The solution can produce thousands of 3D models per week.
Nextech AR is up by 2.70 per cent over the past week trading at $1.90 per share as of 12:47 pm ET.
FansUnite (CSE:FANS) partners with Sportradar
Pursuant to the agreement, Sportradar will provide FansUnite with managed trading services, including pre-match betting, live odds and betting simulation.
Sportradar will enable FansUnite to deliver an array of odds on some of the world’s premier sporting events as well as settle tickets and register end-users.
FansUnite is down by 9.52 per cent over the past week trading at $0.57 per share as of 12:44 pm ET.
We’ll see you next Friday afternoon for a recap of the companies making waves on The Market Herald Canada.
