

The Peak Daily
The Peak / Curiouscast
Fast Canadian business news. Get up-to-speed quick with a fun and smart breakdown of the three biggest Canadian and global business stories in less than 10 minutes.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 22, 2022 • 10min
Greenbacks 💵 — The US Dollar is surging. Robots are taking fast food jobs. And TikTok is scrapping political ads.
Congratulations to anyone with a US bank account, because the currency is on a tear.Meet Flippy, Sippy, and Chippy. No, they aren’t knockoff versions of Snap, Crackle, and Pop. They’re a trio of service robots, and they could soon be preparing your fast food order.TikTok is banning accounts for politicians, parties, and governments from asking for donations and from using monetary features like tipping, gifting, and e-commerce.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TOJoin us for a live recording of The Peak Daily at the Bet on Canada Summit on November 8th. Buy tickets here: https://readthepeak.com/events/bet-on-canada-2022The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 21, 2022 • 10min
Audiobooks 🎧 — Consumer prices are down. Audiobooks are coming to Spotify. And Russia is meddling in Eastern Ukraine.
Canadian consumer prices fell 0.3% last month, the biggest monthly drop in two years.Spotify launched its long-awaited audiobooks feature in the US and will eventually roll it out in all of its markets as it strives to become the one-stop-shop for everything audio.Russian-installed leaders in the occupied Eastern Ukrainian provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia have announced planned referendums on joining Russia.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TOJoin us for a live recording of The Peak Daily at the Bet on Canada Summit on November 8th. Buy tickets here: https://readthepeak.com/events/bet-on-canada-2022The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 20, 2022 • 9min
Ready to Rumble 🥊 — Rumble is going public. Ukraine’s economy isn’t looking good. And Volkswagen is spinning Porsche off.
Toronto-based video site Rumble, which bills itself as a free speech alternative to sites like YouTube, went public after a successful SPAC merger valuing the company at US$2 billion.While Ukraine’s war efforts have garnered positive results in recent weeks, its economic prospects are looking increasingly bleak as it continues to seek outside help.Porsche, owned by Volkswagen Group, will debut on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange later this month, selling ~25% of its shares with hopes of fetching a valuation of US$75 billion.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TOJoin us for a live recording of The Peak Daily at the Bet on Canada Summit on November 8th. Buy tickets here: https://readthepeak.com/events/bet-on-canada-2022The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 19, 2022 • 9min
2 stars ⭐️ — Is the Michelin Star all it’s cracked up to be? Offices are having trouble filling them with people. And an 18 year-old hacked Uber.
If you’ve been on the internet this week, there’s a good chance you already know that the Michelin guide awarded its first Canadian stars to 13 restaurants.Offices are back up and running, but employers are having trouble actually filling them with employees… who remain perfectly fine at home thank you very much.Uber confirmed its internal systems suffered a breach perpetrated by someone alleging to be an 18-year-old.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TOJoin us for a live recording of The Peak Daily at the Bet on Canada Summit on November 8th. Buy tickets here: https://readthepeak.com/events/bet-on-canada-2022The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 16, 2022 • 10min
Climate corp 🌎 — Patagonia founder gives the company away. Adobe buys Figma. Walmart has a new styling feature.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, along with his family, gave away control of the ~US$3 billion company to a trust and a nonprofit organization tackling environmental issues.Adobe agreed to buy design software company Figma for US$20 billion in what will be the largest acquisition ever of a private software company if it gets approved.Walmart has launched its Be Your Own Model tool, which uses a user’s full-body photo to simulate the dressing room experience with Walmart fashion finds.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TOJoin us for a live recording of The Peak Daily at the Bet on Canada Summit on November 8th. Buy tickets here: https://readthepeak.com/events/bet-on-canada-2022The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 15, 2022 • 8min
The Merge 🔌 — Ethereum is going to proof of stake. Shopify is restaffing their leadership. And EU energy execs are doing too well.
Ethereum, a blockchain platform supporting over 50% of the total value of the decentralized finance industry, is shifting to a less energy-intensive way of validating transactions.Shopify restaffed most of its leadership team during the pandemic, and now the top brass of what was once Canada’s most valuable company isn’t looking very Canadian.European energy executives are doing a little too well these days.Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TOJoin us for a live recording of The Peak Daily at the Bet on Canada Summit on November 8th. Buy tickets here: https://readthepeak.com/events/bet-on-canada-2022The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 14, 2022 • 8min
Collection time ⏰ — The Twitter and Musk feud is nearing its climax. US inflation numbers are bad. And the Feds haven’t been able to get their loans back.
Join us for a live recording of The Peak Daily at the Bet on Canada Summit on November 8th. Buy tickets here: https://readthepeak.com/events/bet-on-canada-2022As we await the start of Twitter v. Elon Musk (October 17 if you want to mark your calendar) the final pieces are falling into place for the tech trial of the century.The federal government gave small businesses $49 billion in pandemic loans but forgot one crucial part of doling out tonnes of cash: A plan to get it back.Higher-than-expected US inflation numbers have cleared the runway for the Federal Reserve to deliver another big rate hike—a realization that has sent markets into shock.The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 13, 2022 • 9min
Climate coalition 🌨 — Modern-day slavery is a huge problem. The bond market is suffering. And there’s concern over Canada’s new climate laws.
In 2021, 50 million people across the globe were in some form of modern slavery, including 28 million working under forced labour conditions, per a new UN report.If you’re kicking yourself over a bad stock pick recently, we’re here to tell you that even the safest investments are losing money this year. That’s right, a key index tracking global bonds has dropped 16.8% since January.Climate Proof, a coalition led by the Insurance Bureau of Canada, published an open letter calling the federal government’s new climate goals ‘‘vague and distant”.The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 12, 2022 • 8min
Stress test 🏠 — Canada’s unemployment rate is up. Google is in hot water. And Canadians want to revise the stress test.
Canada’s unemployment rate is up for the first time in seven months, which means that high interest rates have (done what they do best and) thrown cold water on the red hot labour market.The US Justice Department (DOJ) is accusing Google of paying companies billions each year to remain the default search engine on browsers, illegally.Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), which oversees federal mortgage rules, confirmed it will not loosen its borrowing requirements, per Bloomberg.The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Sep 9, 2022 • 10min
Her Majesty 👑 — Canada has a new inflation support plan. The super yacht industry is booming. Corporations are pulling back.
The federal government announced a new three-pronged plan to introduce temporary relief measures aimed at helping low-income Canadians beat back inflation pains.Speaking of the wealthy doing more than their fair share of spending, the superyacht rental business is booming as the well-to-do want to hit the high seas in luxury and comfort.Corporate swag bags may soon become an ancient relic of the past, disappearing with memories of money flowing freely through corporate America’s expense accounts.The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.