I was fortunate enough to catch Benjamin Tal’s presentation in Calgary recently, presented by our friends at FirstLine Mortgage, as he discussed what he calls ‘The New Normal’. For those of you unfamiliar with Benjamin Tal, he is the Deputy Chief Economist for CIBC World Markets. As usual, Ben delivered an engaging and entertaining discussion about world events and their direct impact on the national and local economies. It really is quite remarkable how Ben can make economics seem like so much fun!
As a mortgage associate with Verico MyMortgage.ca, I am particularly interested in Ben’s forecasts of upcoming bond markets and Bank of Canada decisions, as well as his prognosis of the real estate market. He always delivers a terrific amount of information and value every time he speaks.
Although he discussed several issues ranging from oil price shocks, the deleveraging US consumer, pending Fed and Bank of Canada decisions and the booming (?) US manufacturing sector, the most important message he left us with was the impact of a rogue fundamental economic indicator, the ‘Velocity of Money’.
