Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Libraries Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

The Loonie Hour

Inflation Is Heating Up… Will Central Banks Ignore It?

22 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What are the implications of rising inflation on central bank policies?

0.031 - 18.748 Rich Diaz

In the U.S., they're talking about the new Fed chair that's just come in, and they're saying there's a high probability that they could just decide that their new preferred measure is to target trimmed mean inflation or median CPI. That would actually put them back into their inflation target range and allow them to actually cut rates.

0

18.728 - 42.357 Steve Saretsky

you know we've talked before we really are at the end of 40 plus year cycle where hey right zero for 15 years with qe a lot of stuff going on and now inflation is creeping in so yeah they need to sort of change how they're looking at the so-called game that they're trying to play i think it's irrelevant truthfully because i think the rates are going up across the curve koreans are plowing into the stock market people

0

42.337 - 63.788 Steve Saretsky

are emptying out their pension funds they're buying super leveraged positions the classic another euphoria market so we had crypto a couple years ago the crypto last year but if you're in a country and all of a sudden you see your currency is in decline and you're saying oh wow i need to protect myself you're going to sell your currency but one way to protect yourself is to buy the stock market

0

67.345 - 76.076 Keith

If you're a mortgage broker, you already know the story.

0

76.236 - 94.077 Rich Diaz

A quality borrower walks through your door. Strong equity, clear exit strategy, but they don't check every box at the bank. Maybe they're self-employed, between properties, or bridging a gap. What do you do? That's exactly where Neighborhood Holdings comes in. Neighborhood partners directly with mortgage brokers across Canada to fund short-term residential mortgages for borrowers in transition.

94.197 - 109.215 Rich Diaz

The ones the banks can't move fast enough for. Neighborhood is one of the largest alternative mortgage lenders in Canada, with more than $2 billion funded over more than a decade of operation and now backed by three decades of combined experience following the acquisition of Fisgard. Neighborhood is the team you can trust your mortgage clients.

109.455 - 116.943 Rich Diaz

For brokers, that means a reliable funding partner with competitive rates and fast turnaround, one who understands your business and can help you close deals that would otherwise stall.

Chapter 2: How are Canadian mortgage brokers adapting to changing market conditions?

117.144 - 135.645 Rich Diaz

For investors and advisors looking for an income solution, Neighborhood manages two funds and is backed by a portfolio of real assets and a track record of compelling returns. Visit neighborhood.com or check out the link in the description to learn more. This is not advice. Consult a professional advisor before investing Looney in any of these investments. Visit neighborhood.com.

0

135.665 - 147.64 Rich Diaz

Welcome back to Looney Hour, episode 242. As always, join me, the three amigos. We've got the boomer over in Halifax, Rich Diaz in Montreal. What's going on, Richard? Gentlemen, we did it.

0

148.7 - 164.282 Keith

Go Habs. I know people are probably tired of us talking about hockey, but listen, when they finally lose or, you know, next year in September during the preseason, then I'll start talking about it. No, I'm joking. No, it's been nothing really going on. It's F1 weekend.

0

Chapter 3: What challenges is Canada facing with its electrical grid?

164.302 - 183.353 Keith

If you guys are into that kind of thing, I don't really care so much about that. Montreal too. Yeah, it's a big deal. Although I'm kind of disappointed. They're like hybrids now and they kind of sound weird, but I'm not really into that kind of thing. But it is a big deal in Montreal. Is that only in Canada? They have to have like zero emission? No, no. I mean, okay, there's two sides to it.

0

183.453 - 201.801 Keith

It's actually really cool that you can drive, I don't know, 300 kilometers an hour on a hybrid, which is amazing. But it's apparently all of the real serious motorheads are bitching because they're no longer driving flat out. There's a lot of things like battery management in order to be a good racer. That seems like against the spirit of the sport.

0

201.922 - 203.704 Steve Saretsky

It's zero emission and it's autonomous.

0

Chapter 4: How is the Korean stock market reacting to economic pressures?

203.724 - 210.044 Steve Saretsky

No, no. See, that's why Montreal will never win. No, it's nothing to do with Montreal. I don't care how you do it.

0

210.064 - 217.047 Keith

No, no, no, no. It is quite amazing. The technology is actually quite amazing. Anyway, that's it. I got nothing else.

0

218.545 - 240.729 Steve Saretsky

So guys, I was in New York for a few days. I was down there. So interesting, some points for you guys to think about. Had conversations with a number of traders on some trade floors, things like that. And you can see what the trades are lined up, what's in the blotter, what's going through and everything. And so a trade desk, by the way, a trade floor, it's not a prop desk.

0

Chapter 5: What are the latest trends in global bond yields and their effects?

240.749 - 260.933 Steve Saretsky

What a prop desk means in our world is that you're making trades to make money for your own book. So, like, I'm not exposed to that. I'm just on a trading floor where they're executing trades for clients who would be, like, firms like IceCap or some other, you know, really cool investment firm out there, stuff like that. And it's funny.

0

260.953 - 285.521 Steve Saretsky

I asked the traders, so what's everyone trading most of the time here? And the guys, two guys just burst out laughing at the same time. They said, tech, man, it's always tech stocks. Anything AI, that's all they're buying. And then I said, what about the commodity world? You know, like the miners or, you know, commodity ETFs. And the boys just burst out laughing again. They said, no, not at all.

0

285.541 - 295.115 Steve Saretsky

So I said, is this one of the biggest contrarian trades, what you guys see in a lifetime? And the guys, they both said, yeah, absolutely. Now, they don't know when it will turn, of course, but their message was that.

0

Chapter 6: How do current inflation rates impact consumer behavior?

295.135 - 319.504 Steve Saretsky

So this is New York, not on Wall Street. These guys are executing trades, you know, from all over the place. They're coming in. So the message one. Everyone keeps buying tech all the time. Message two, they don't see a whole lot of commodity resource related themed trades. From a contrarian perspective, Richard, what do you like about it? What do you like about that? I don't know.

0

319.604 - 329.413 Keith

I don't know what the right answer is. It means you should be interested in commodities. You should be skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.

0

329.433 - 331.097 Rich Diaz

Zig when everybody zags.

0

331.117 - 331.778 Keith

Yeah, that's right.

0

332.5 - 339.357 Steve Saretsky

Yeah, it's kind of it because a lot of the models we follow, we'll talk a little bit now today, right, when we get in, talk about equity markets and stuff.

Chapter 7: What insights can we gain from the latest Canadian housing data?

339.337 - 354.874 Steve Saretsky

People don't care about earnings and valuations. It's just momentum. Where's the money going? Where's Steve skating and stuff like that? That was cool. Two other experiences for New York. Steve, we went to a really cool restaurant. It's called the Monkey Bar.

0

355.635 - 357.958 Rich Diaz

I think I've been there. I've been there. Yeah. Wife likes that.

0

357.978 - 358.378 Steve Saretsky

Have you really?

0

358.719 - 359.86 Rich Diaz

Yeah.

0

359.88 - 360.501 Steve Saretsky

That's great.

Chapter 8: What strategies should investors consider in a volatile market?

360.621 - 386.868 Steve Saretsky

They use knife and fork, Steve, and napkins. I know that's not your kind of place. You're more of a burger restaurant. Where is this going? I'm just highlighting your preference. And that's really cool. But another really cool place, though, it's a hotel down in Chelsea. It's called the Chelsea Hotel. I mentioned this to Rich yesterday, and he was aware of it as well.

0

387.409 - 407.809 Steve Saretsky

So if you're down in that area, you want to go to a very old sort of historic New York place that nothing's changed since the 50s or 60s, really. And if you are a celebrity of any kind back then, you know, like Andy Warhol, Janis Joplin, not in the 50s, but, you know, 60s and stuff, that's where these guys all hung out.

0

408.35 - 415.157 Steve Saretsky

And it's a great place to go in for some fun drinks and just, you know, you see who's having drinks there and stuff like that.

0

415.337 - 441.515 Keith

Did you see any famous people doing drugs in the Chelsea Hotel house? I googled it after you talked about it. I saw some not famous people doing drugs in New York. After we spoke, I googled it and it's like, man, the legends from the 80s and the 70s are just quite outrageous, frankly. It's quite nuts. But it's a beautiful place, man. It was so gorgeous. The pictures online are amazing.

0

442.236 - 445.339 Steve Saretsky

Yeah, it's pretty cool. How about you, Steve? What's been happening on your side?

447.861 - 464.044 Rich Diaz

Just... Following this news story, we've talked about it on the podcast before. I keep it relatively brief, but there's an interesting story that I felt was sort of symbolic of just Canada and where it's been over the last five to 10 years.

464.886 - 484.397 Rich Diaz

So Keith, remember that story I was telling on the pod before about, you know, like here in the city of Vancouver where I live, if you're building a new home, a new construction, you're not allowed to have natural gas heating systems anymore. So like, for example, if you want a natural gas boiler, furnace, whatever the answer, you're not allowed. It's like banned. Um,

484.597 - 502.868 Rich Diaz

And so the mayor of Vancouver who has been – he tried to reverse it like a couple years ago. He's putting it forward to another vote to basically reverse it to say, listen, we're going to give people options. Like you can use your electric heat pump and you can use your electric hot water boiler, but like we want to give people the option to put gas in.

504.311 - 504.411

Yeah.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.