Research shows an increase in spending in Canada during the past decade, yet it has come to a halt as the economic repercussions of the pandemic continue to play out across the country and the world. That said, not everyone is spending (or not spending) their money in the same way. There are still some unique differences between the Canadian generations when it comes to spending, saving, and investing their money. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at millennials and their spending habits over one of the most tumultuous years in recent memory.
Millennials Are Still Making “Comfort” Purchases
Prior to the pandemic, the data showed that millennials spent more than all other generations on “comfort” purchases like clothing, streaming services, and going out to eat. For the most part, these spending habits have remained intact. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, millennials are opting to get food delivered rather than eating at a restaurant. Though spending is down across the board, millennials are still making financial decisions that reflect their desire to enjoy their free time.
However, not all comfort purchases have stayed popular — or even possible — during the pandemic. Concerts and similarly crowded events have become more complicated with COVID-19 restrictions in place. Additionally, millennials have shown a greater aversion to travel than Generation X or baby boomers.
Millennials Rent More Than They Buy
Income inequality has become a hot button issue that often pits millennials against their parents’ and even grandparents’ generations. While living expenses have continued to rise over the last 30 years, especially in populous cities like Vancouver and Toronto, wages have stagnated. As a result, millennials simply do not have the capital saved to buy or even finance a home. Instead, they tend to rent apartments or houses — often with at least one roommate to cut down on expenses.
While living expenses have continued to rise over the last 30 years, especially in populous cities like Vancouver and Toronto, wages have stagnated.
In fact, many millennials don’t even have enough money to rent their own place. Though unemployment is steadily declining in Canada, the unemployment rate is still significantly higher than it was in 2019. This has disproportionately affected younger, less-established workers. With little savings and fewer job opportunities, many Canadian millennials are opting to live with their parents well into their 20s and 30s.
Millennials Are Paying Down Their Debt
Millennials are one of the most educated demographics in Canada, but this achievement came at a high cost. With average college tuition exceeding $20,000 per year, younger Canadians have no choice but to take on large student loans to get the education they need. With more and more Canadians acquiring some form of degree, higher education has become a necessity to remain competitive in the job market.
Thus, millennials spend much of their available cash paying down new or existing loans. Since Millennials have a propensity for spending their income on “comfort” or non-essential purchases, they also tend to lean more on high-interest credit cards. This has led to an ever-worsening relationship between poor spending habits and soaring debt for many young Canadians.
Millennials Invest In Smartphones More Than Anything Else
For many young people, a smartphone represents a gateway to the rest of the world. It is both a powerful tool to manage mundane tasks like bank transfers and phone calls, as well as a portal to the world’s collective supply of information. Millennials can learn a new language, start a business, or keep just keep in touch with friends — all on one device. As a result, millennials don’t mind shelling out a few extra dollars to upgrade their phones on a regular basis.
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However, it’s important to note that buying phones is not a completely practical act. Among Canadian and American millennials, there’s also a certain degree of “keeping up with the Joneses” involved. Though there are plenty of low-cost, functional smartphones on the market, a large percentage of millennials opt for more expensive models, even if it means adding even more to their debt.
US plane manufacturer Boeing has recommended that all of its 777 aircraft carrying the same engine that failed over Denver on Saturday be grounded until inspections are carried out.
128 jets will be suspended from flying if Boeing’s recommendations are heeded. 69 of these planes are currently in service globally, while 59 are in storage.
The recommendation follows after one of its 777 planes, bound for Hawaii, had its right engine catch fire and shower debris across a Denver suburb. Nobody was injured during the incident, and the plane landed safely back in Denver.
Fleets of 777s were grounded in both the US and Japan following the fire, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issuing an emergency airworthiness directive calling for inspections of the aircraft. Two separate incidents involving engine faults also occurred over the weekend.
The 777 involved in the Saturday incident was powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000-112 engines. Pratt & Whitney said in a statement that it had dispatched a team to work with FAA investigators.
Boeing’s latest crisis comes shortly after its 737 Max jets were cleared to fly again by global aviation authorities. The 737 MAX was previously grounded in 2019 after flaws in its design caused two fatal crashes that left 346 dead.
Boeing lost more than £20 billion in direct costs after regulators grounded the 737 Max. The subsequent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a global reduction in demand for air travel further exacerbated the company’s losses.
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This new crisis is likely to have a significant impact on Boeing stock, which has seen its 4% gains on Friday already erased during Monday morning trading.
Barclays announced plans for a share buyback and a resumption of its dividend on Thursday as it revealed that its full-year numbers for 2020 came out at a £3.1 billion pre-tax profit.
Though the bank’s full-year profit was down 38% compared with 2019’s figures, Barclays still managed to defy analysts’ expectations of a pre-tax profit of £2.8 billion. This is partly owed to a slight increase in revenue, with its corporate and investment bank reporting a 35% jump in pre-tax profits for the whole of the year, the best on record for the division.
A large part of Barclays’ costs for 2020 stemmed from the bank’s decision to set aside £4.8 billion to cover loans that it considers unlikely to be paid back due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its credit card and retail banking businesses were also struck by a downturn in demand, cutting pre-tax profits by 78%.
Barclays has been one of the largest providers of emergency loans during the COVID-19 pandemic, having issued around £27 billion to businesses and provided more than 680,000 payment holidays globally for customers with outstanding loans, mortgages and credit cards.
Despite its losses, the bank announced on Thursday that it would resume dividends, with payments of 1p per share issued to shareholders.
Barclays’ CEO, Jes Staley, expressed optimism on the back of the full-year earnings report. “Barclays remains well capitalised, well provisioned for impairments, highly liquid, with a strong balance sheet, and competitive market positions across the group,” he said.
“We expect that our resilient and diversified business model will deliver a meaningful improvement in returns in 2021.”
Separately from its results, Barclays also reported that its staff bonus pool for 2020 was 6% higher than the £1.5 billion pool it shared out in 2019.
Bill Michael, chairman of Big Four accounting firm KPMG, has stepped aside after the company launched an investigation into controversial comments he allegedly made to staff during a virtual meeting on Monday.
Michael reportedly told consultants to “stop moaning” about the impact of the pandemic and lockdown measures on people’s lives, and that they should stop “playing the victim card”. Around a third of the firm’s 1,500-member consulting team were in attendance.
Michael later rejoined the meeting and apologised for his comments, according to the Financial Times, and KPMG launched an “independent investigation” into his conduct.
"Mr Michael has decided to step aside from his duties as chair while the investigation is underway," a KPMG spokesperson said. "We take this matter very seriously and will not comment further while the investigation is ongoing."
During the meeting, staff reportedly complained about Michael’s statements using an app to post comments anonymously. Some allegedly expressed anger that he had dismissed concerns about possible cuts to staff bonuses, pay and pensions.
The chairman’s comments were particularly poorly received after a staff poll discussed at the beginning of the meeting showed that a high proportion of consultants were struggling to cope during the pandemic, according to the FT.
Michael has presided over a tumultuous period for the firm. KPMG has recently come under scrutiny for its audit of government contractor Carillion, which collapsed in 2018 with £1 billion of debt. Sales for 2020 fell 4% to £2.3 billion as the COVID-19 pandemic forced KPMG’s clients to cut back on expenses.
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Last week KPMG UK’s full-year results revealed that Michael was paid £1.7 million last year, down from £2 million in 2019.
Oil prices hit one-year peaks on Friday amid hopes for a quick economic revival and a commitment by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies to restrain the supply of crude.
Brent crude futures reached $59.41 per barrel, a high not seen since 20 February 2020. Brent is currently on track to gain around 6% this week.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also rose 0.5% to $56.52 after previously reaching a peak of $56.52 per barrel, its own highest level since 22 January 2020 – and is on track to achieve a weekly increase of 8%.
The backwardation of both benchmarks, where contracts for near-term delivery are more expensive than later supplies, reached their highest level in over a year at $2.30, showing expectations of tighter supply in the future.
The oil market has been shored up by supply restrictions from OPEC+, which on Wednesday announced member states’ “high compliance” with agreements to limit oil supply, forcing up prices.
In a statement released following a meeting of its Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee on 3 February, OPEC said that countries had held back production by a total of 2.1 billion barrels since April 2020, when the market suffered an unprecedented shock. A combination of the dawning COVID-19 pandemic and a price war between Russia and a Saudi-led coalition drove prices to historically low levels, with futures even turning negative for a brief while.
“The committee welcomed the positive performance of participating countries,” OPEC said. “Participants pledged to achieve full conformity and make up for previous compensation short-falls, and stressed the importance of accelerating market rebalancing without delay.”
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Government data also released on Wednesday showed that US crude oil stockpiles unexpectedly fell to 475.7 million barrels last week, their lowest level since last March.
Deutsche Bank AG closed 2020 with an annual profit for the first time in six years, owed in large part to a bond trading boom and having achieved cost-cutting targets.
For the full year, the bank made a profit of €624 million, up significantly from its net loss of €5.26 billion in 2019 as it underwent a major restructuring project. Analysts had expected to see a loss of €201 million, according to Refinitiv.
Profits were spurred on by Deutsche’s investment banking division, with net revenues rising 32% to €9.8 billion over the course of the year as trading in fixed income securities and currencies jumped 28%. The bank stated that this increase “more than offset a rise in provision for credit losses resulting from COVID-19.”
By contrast, Deutsche’s private banking and corporate banking divisions saw almost flat revenues in 2020, and asset management revenues fell 4%.
"In the most important year of our transformation, we were able to more than offset transformation-related effects and elevated credit provisions - despite the global pandemic,” Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said in the Q4 report.
"We are confident this overall positive trend will continue in 2021 despite these challenging times.”
Deutsche Bank’s years-long journey back to profitability has not been smooth, having faced allegations of money-laundering and received a $2.5 billion fine for the fixing of LIBOR. It has also recently been caught up in the Wirecard scandal.
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The bank also announced 18,000 job cuts in 2019 as part of a plan to reduce the size of its investment bank, which is now the main driver of its profits.
Wayne Johnson, CEO & co-founder of Encompass, explores trends in open banking and their implications for financial services in the UK.
The UK banking industry faced some serious challenges throughout 2020, as financial institutions responded to restrictions on business activity designed to stop the spread of COVID-19. Crucial to this response was the fact that we had the technology and infrastructure available to facilitate remote operations and digital banking, particularly during a time when customer need was greater than ever.
The popularity of open banking has surged in recent years, paving the way for fintechs to provide seamless access to cutting-edge financial management services. It is a secure way to give authorised third-party providers access to financial information from banks, such as spending habits and regular payments, with the aim of helping people to understand financial needs and find new products and services to help customers.
At the beginning of 2020, the main goal for banks in the UK was to continue pushing towards more mature, scalable, and resilient open banking plans so that they could still compete with players in other markets. However, after the global pandemic hit, banks had to turn their attention to health and safety, dealing with branch closures, remote working, and efforts to support their customers and clients as thousands of businesses had to close and jobs in all industries were on the line. A benefit of open banking is that it allows financial data to be shared across everyday financial life, making banking more convenient. Now that 1 in 4 millennials and gen-Zs are using challenger banks, it is clearly a desired way of using services, and inevitable that more banks will use open banking to provide a better customer experience.
Many organisations that customers share data with could be budgeting, lending services or other banks, as well as various fintech companies on the market to consumers. Open banking is therefore very advantageous to the fintech industry and will likely contribute to its growth in the UK as the data provided will be much easier for start-ups to see and use. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Open banking’s benefits have taken on a new significance. Now, open banking can be considered as a powerful tool in helping finance providers evaluate cost efficiency during difficult times and as consumers face changing circumstances.
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With the current pressure on personal finances, and three out of five UK households negatively affected financially, Open Banking can help obtain an accurate view of the consumer’s financial situation which then helps them make important decisions and gain additional insight to help tailor products for individual needs.
In 2021, the focus of the finance sector will likely be on improving the digital experience, and we have already seen that there has been a major shift in the fintech ecosystem, with it seen by many as a source of potential innovation for banks, rather than a direct competitive challenge. When it comes to open banking, this is only the beginning. Despite the industry still being in the early stages of implementation, there is increasing interest in moving beyond this to include a far broader spread of financial products. It is also likely to encourage a shift in regulation through the increased demand for transparency, with RegTech here to help solve the problems of regulatory compliance.
Private rents in some of the UK’s largest city centres have fallen drastically in the wake of a post-pandemic exodus from major urban areas, according to new data from online estate agent Rightmove.
Rightmove’s latest rental trends report, released on Wednesday, showed that inner-city rents dropped by as much as 12% in Q4 2020 as tenants fled to the suburbs. Inner London was the hardest hit, with annual asking rents falling by 12.4% on average in the three months to 31 December.
Edinburgh city centre and Manchester city centre followed close behind London, their average rents falling by 10% and 5.3% respectively.
Further, all ten of the UK’s biggest city centres saw an uptick in the number of inner-city residents enquiring about properties outside their area. 53% of renters in Inner London asked about properties outside the city centre during Q4, up from 45% in 2019, while central Edinburgh’s proportion rose to 37% from 29%.
As a result of this migration, there has been a significant increase in properties available for rent in city centres. Vacant properties available in Leeds, Inner London and Nottingham have more than doubled.
“There's no doubt that higher rents will return once life goes back to some form of normality,” said Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Data, “but it will be the city centre properties with gardens and balconies that will be able to command the biggest premiums."
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Marc von Grundherr, Director of Benham and Reeves in London, said that the pandemic had reduced tenants’ willingness to commit to the high cost of renting in central London and other urban areas.
“At present, the vast majority of the capital remains closed for business,” he noted. “As a result, demand has fallen dramatically causing rental stock to flood the market. This excess level of stock means that landlords are being forced to accept dramatically lower levels of rent just to avoid lengthy void periods between tenancies.”
Finance Monthly hears from Stuart Lane, CEO of Trade Nation.
2020 was an extraordinary year for traders as the coronavirus spread across the globe, triggering worldwide lockdowns and restrictions and bringing unprecedented volatility to the markets. And while the effects of the pandemic are still far from over, 2021 is set to look very different. Not only do the new vaccination programmes give hope for an eventual return to normality, but we will also see how major political changes play out, such as Brexit and Joe Biden’s first year as President of the United States.
For traders hoping to get ahead of the markets in 2021, here are five key areas for them to keep their eyes on over the next twelve months.
Brexit
With Brexit now pretty much done and dusted, we may see the pound sterling continue to recover from the lows seen last March. However, the big question is whether its strength will hold back possible gains made on the FTSE 100, which has been lagging behind US indices and the German DAX — both of which recently hit record rights. The FTSE, on the other hand, is still more than 12% below the highs experienced in early 2020.
It’s commonly believed that sterling strength weighs heavily on the FTSE due to the fact the majority of the index’s constituents export goods abroad. The higher the value of sterling, the more these goods cost foreign importers, which in turn means less are sold.
Biden Presidency
On the first full trading day of 2021, all five of the major US tech giants (Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft) — which have effectively driven the extraordinary rally in the US stock indices since the pandemic lows of last March — were down 1.8-2.2%. This is because it looked like the Democrats were about to win control of the Senate, giving the party a clean sweep: Presidency, Senate and House.
As it turned out, the Democrats did win those two vital Senate seats in Georgia. For now, the Republicans have no majority anymore. It also means that Vice President Kamala Harris has the deciding vote whenever there’s a 50:50 Senate split. The Democrats now have the clean sweep they were hoping for, making them much more likely to pursue a radical programme of high spending reforms. This has gone down well with investors who have already rushed to buy stocks, pushing all the major US indices to fresh record highs.
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The Future of Retail
The high street changed beyond recognition in 2020, although it’s well-known that the move away from bricks and mortar to eCommerce was already well-advanced. Now, old-style department stores which were once the foundation of every mid-sized town shopping centre look unlikely to survive. Therefore, a strong online presence is vital for retailers. There will be considerable pressure on the UK government to get involved and save the high street. But will this mean a shake-up on things like business rates and rents, or a lazier approach that simply involved dishing out temporary relief?
As we have seen from early reports on holiday-period spending, food retailers continue to perform well, as do online retailers. But following a boost to high streets in early December, footfall collapsed before Christmas as fresh COVID-19 restrictions were brought in. It’s now reported to be down by 43% in 2020 compared to the previous year. The big question is whether this misfortune will reverse once restrictions are lifted, or will the hope offered by vaccination programmes come too late to save many of our high street favourites?
Technology
When it comes to technology, perhaps the most exciting thing for traders to follow are the advances in medical tech. The mRNA vaccines are a massive development; a new method of vaccine production that will help bring fresh vaccines to market much faster than was previously possible. Also, mRNA vaccines can be adapted quickly and cheaply to address new virus variants, thereby opening up the prospect of vaccines for previously untreatable conditions too.
Elsewhere in tech, Tesla’s stock price soared to a fresh record high in the first week of 2021, making founder Elon Musk the richest person on the planet — overtaking Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. Many analysts continue to insist that Tesla, along with Bitcoin, is in an unsustainable bubble, and one day all those paper-millionaire investors will wake up broke. But for now, the owners of Tesla shares and Bitcoin are laughing the loudest.
‘Ethical’ Stocks
Ethical investment could be one of the biggest buzz areas in 2021. The sector has matured to a great extent, so ethical investment no longer means merely pruning portfolios of defence, tobacco, oil, and mining stocks. Now, there is a large and expanding ‘green’ industry to consider. Last year the UK saw more than $4 billion put into funds claiming to focus on ESG — environmental, social and governance investing. However, not all funds are the same, and careful diligence must be taken to separate those with a genuine will to manage their businesses ethically, and the bandwagon jumpers.
We are already seeing a rise in ethically questionable investments too, water being the most notable. CME Group has recently started offering water futures, and this is also relevant to farmland which is a very big consideration in the US. In fact, these are both areas in which Michael Burry (of The Big Short fame) is now heavily invested. Will more traders now be tempted to follow his lead? Only time will tell.
Online fashion retailer Boohoo has acquired Debenhams in a £55 million partial rescue deal that will see the closure of the UK department store chain’s remaining physical outlets.
An excess of 118 stores and the jobs attached to them remain at risk. An estimated 12,000 jobs at the 242-year-old chain are believed to be in the balance.
“The group will only be acquiring the brands and associated intellectual property rights,” Boohoo said in a statement. “The transaction does not include Debenhams’ retail stores, stock or any financial services.”
Debenhams is already in the process of closing down after administrators failed to secure a rescue deal for the business. Brand owner, Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group, fell into administration last year, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.
A closing-down sale across the 124-store Debenhams chain began in December. It was recently announced that six of these shops, including the brand’s flagship department store on London’s Oxford Street, would not reopen after lockdown. The remainder will be wound down once they are in a position to reopen.
Though traditional retail sales are in decline across the UK and suffered greater damage during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, eCommerce has emerged to fill some of the consumer void. Debenhams made roughly £400 million in online revenues in its most recent financial year to 31 August 2020, and Boohoo estimates that its website receives 300 million visits a year.
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Boohoo CEO John Lyttle said Debenhams will operate as a digital “shop window” for Boohoo’s brands, such as Pretty Little Thing, and third-party retailers. There will likely also be “an opportunity to launch the marketplace in international markets over time.”
Many business owners who rent a commercial space are struggling or refusing to pay the rent. If this describes your tenants, you may be wondering if you can sue the insurance company to cover your costs.
So far, the pandemic has lasted for over a year, and there’s no end in sight. Eating a loss for months on end is not sustainable. After all, you may be depending on rent to pay your own mortgages. Read on to learn how some property owners are trying to get repaid for lost income due to the pandemic.
The Pandemic Is Disrupting Business and Rents
Many states are ordering shutdowns of businesses that have been deemed non-essential. Most businesses can not afford to go weeks without income. This is making companies try to back out of their rent. Some are claiming the virus as an act of God, which allows them to back out of the contract. Others are suing their commercial insurance provider.
Insurance companies are also denying coverage in many cases. They are saying the situation with the pandemic is out of their control. Others are saying that the damages are not physical. The way insurance companies make money is by avoiding large payouts. It is natural they are going to fight in court to avoid being sued by everyone.
Business owners and landlords feel their business insurance should cover their losses. Some have business interruption clauses in their contracts that should cover this. Insurance companies counter that the damages for COVID-19 are not their fault. They also claim the damages are too hard to calculate. This has resulted in a growing number of legal battles.
So Far No Landlord Has Won In Court
At this time, no landlord is known to have won a business interruption case that is related to the pandemic. Some legal advisors are recommending that business owners sue the tenant. Others are saying to work out a settlement or other arrangement. With so many small businesses closing due to the pandemic, you’ll have to consider the fact that it may not be so easy to get new tenants.
At this time, no landlord is known to have won a business interruption case that is related to the pandemic.
Thousands Of Cases Have Gone to Court
The failure or success of many lawsuits will depend on the states they are filed in. A court in Texas may rule differently than a court in New York. Experts say there are already lawsuits worth billions in courts.
These cases are being fought in state and federal courts. Some are claiming bad faith upon the insurer. Others have more creative legal strategies. There are promising cases in states like:
- New Jersey
- Missouri
- North Carolina
Some Cases Are Winning
There have been thousands of cases filed since the pandemic began. Insurers are playing hardball and seeking dismissals. Most of the cases are being dismissed by judges.
A few cases brought against insurers seem to be winning in court, though they haven’t officially been settled at this time. Some plaintiffs may have found a strategy that is working in court. Only time will tell.
Lawyers Are Arguing That the Policies Are Too Vague
The insurance companies are claiming their policies never stated they include viruses. Some insurance contracts have provisions called "all-risks" policies. Some businesses in Western Missouri made it to a jury trial. The judge ruled the physical presence of the virus met the requirements for physical loss and damage.
The key in these cases is to point out how ambiguous the language in the contracts are. Another strong strategy is citing the government orders as the damage. These are more tangible in a court's eyes than a virus.
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Some States Have More Open Interpretations of Physical Damage
A judge in New Jersey ruled that New Jersey state law didn't need physical damages. Plaintiffs cited an earlier case where dangerous gas made a packaging plant unsafe. They also cited a case where a downed power grid interrupted a grocery store.
Closure orders by the governor also helped them get a favorable ruling. Dangerous conditions that interrupted operations were enough to satisfy the court. There was a similar ruling in a North Carolina case. It ruled that being unable to physically access the property was a physical loss. This will be another way landlords and other businesses will likely take.
Closing Thoughts
This is a newer battlefield in litigation. Business interruption insurance is one of the main ways to sue insurance companies. Others may cite bad faith by the insurer.
Some cases are being won against insurers by other business types. Landlords should cite these as precedents, and read through as much information about legal options for businesses affected by COVID-19 as possible. The key to winning these cases seems to be citing ambiguous contracts, state law, and government mandates. These are the main ways cases have made progress in court.
Retail sales volumes in the UK saw a historically tepid rise over the Christmas period despite the easing of November lockdown restrictions on 2 December.
New data published on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that retail sales rose by just 0.3% in December from the previous month, far below economists’ expected gains of 1.2%. Overall, retail sales fell 0.4% in Q4 from the previous quarter.
The figures show that UK retail sales experienced their largest annual fall in history last year, slumping 1.9% overall. Clothing stores were hit the hardest, with a 25.1% sales drop, followed by sales at petrol stations, “other stores” and department stores, which fell 22.2%, 11.6% and 5.2% respectively.
“During December, there was initially a period of eased restrictions early in the month, however, there followed a number of tighter restrictions to non-essential retail in England, Scotland and Wales later in the month,” the ONS noted in its release as a factor that affected retail turnover.
“Despite the monthly recovery, sales in the sector are still 14.2% lower than December 2019 and continue to remain at a lower level than before the pandemic struck.”
Despite the grim outlook for retailers, the ONS also noted that online sales grew by 46.1% during 2020 – the sharpest annual growth the sector has seen since 2008.
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The pound was trading 0.5% lower against the dollar at $1.366 and 0.4% lower against the euro at €1.124 on Friday morning as the ONS’s figures were released. This shift comes on the back of dashed hopes for an early exit from lockdown, as ministers’ comments indicated that nationwide lockdown measures could last beyond spring.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “too early to say” when restrictions would be eased, refusing to rule out measures continuing into the summer.
