Author: Press Room

By Fergal Smith TORONTO (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar is set to rally over the coming year, after a period in which it consolidates its recent gains, as an expected slowdown in economic activity stops short of a hard landing for the economy, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday. Since early March the Canadian currency has rallied about 3% against its U.S. counterpart as worries the global banking crisis would lead to a credit crunch eased and the U.S. dollar lost ground against a basket of major currencies. A surge this week in the price of oil, one of Canada’s…

By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday that 44 countries have expressed interest in borrowing from its $40 billion Resilience and Sustainability Trust after an initial five had arranged loans. The facility was created last year to help channel excess IMF Special Drawing Rights reserves from wealthier countries to poor and vulnerable middle-income countries to provide long-term concessional financing for needs such as climate change adaptation and transitioning to cleaner energy sources. Georgieva told a Bretton Woods Committee event at the start of IMF and World Bank spring meeting week…

Tech companies in the U.S. have laid off 131,000 workers in mass job cuts this year, according to Crunchbase. But doom and gloom aside, fintech companies are still hiring. The challenge is the misconception that landing a job in fintech requires skill sets from the broader tech space. While true in some cases, the fintech industry differs wildly from big tech. For starters, fintech companies have a start-up culture, so hiring managers are looking for people with more interpersonal skills than traditional tech companies. “Hiring managers are always looking for folks who have grit and the ability to pivot easily…

The problem for many investors is that they are constantly bombarded with scary headlines that can lead to a detrimental decision to exit a long-term-oriented investment plan. As Lao Tzu states, “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading,” but the sensationalistic 24/7 media world in which we reside today doesn’t make it easy to stay the course through thick and thin. However, no matter how disconcerting events may seem, history shows that the key to success in stocks is not to get scared out of them! Alas, fear sells much better than greed…

Topline Weight Watchers parent WW International’s share price rallied 59% on Tuesday after acquiring a company largely dedicated to helping patients get weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, as one analyst predicted WW International’s $100 million acquisition deal will help reawaken the struggling diet-focused company. Key Facts WW International closed on its purchase of the weight loss telehealth provider Sequence Monday after markets closed, after previously announcing it entered an agreement last month. The acquisition spurred Goldman Sachs analyst Jason English to upgrade WW International from a hold to a buy, upping his price target for the stock more than 200% from…

The Biden administration has quietly updated the process borrowers can use to apply for a key federal student loan forgiveness program geared toward people who work in public service careers. The change may ultimately make it easier for borrowers to request relief and reduce the chances that an application gets rejected. Here’s what borrowers should know. Student Loan Forgiveness For Borrowers Working In Public Service Jobs Borrowers who commit to working in nonprofit or government jobs can qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), a program that provides complete federal student loan forgiveness in as little as 10 years (after…

Arriving at a conference, I went to hang my coat on the rack and noticed one that was almost identical to mine. I hung my coat as far away from that one as possible. A couple of hours later while heading to a session, I noticed a woman wearing my coat. She was furiously checking the pockets and saying to her companion, “My keys aren’t here.” I walked up to her and politely said, “Your keys aren’t in the pocket because that’s my coat.” It fit her but didn’t meet her needs. Many people don’t want to deal with Medicare.…

The decline in mortgage rates over the last month likely will boost U.S. home sales by more than 200,000 as cheaper financing results in more people qualifying for loans, according to Lawerence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. “Each half a percentage point drop in mortgage rates results is an additional 200,000 home sales, and likely even more,” said Yun. “Since more people will qualify for mortgages, it leads to more sales.” The average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed home loan dropped to 6.28% last week from 6.73% in March’s first week, according to Freddie Mac.…

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday struck an optimistic tone about the state of the global economy, saying that it is faring better than many expected in the fall despite persistent inflation and recent turmoil within the banking sector.  “During the G20 [meeting] in February, I said that the global economy was in a better place than many predicted last fall. That basic picture remains largely unchanged,” Yellen said during remarks prepared for delivery at the start of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings. The meetings come just weeks after the collapse of two regional lenders in the…

Google announced that starting Tuesday it’s adding more than 800 free channels to its Google TV software on the Chromecast streaming device and select TVs made by Sony, CL, Hisense and Philips.Google’s aggregation of several existing free TV services like Fox’s Tubi, Paramount Global’s Pluto TV and Haystack News is a move to differentiate its streaming operating interface from competitors, including Roku, Apple and Amazon. And it may help attract people to Google’s platform who otherwise don’t want to pay for streaming services.The Alphabet unit said it is integrating free channels into the “Live” tab where users will see content…