(Bloomberg) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is preparing to give a major economic address next week, according to people familiar with the plans, the latest in a series of measures to steady his shaky 2024 presidential bid.
Economy
DeSantis Plans Major Economic Speech Next Week as Part of Reset
The DeSantis campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeSantis and his wife, Casey, have been frustrated and want the campaign reoriented by September when they think Americans will start to tune into the 2024 presidential race, said one fundraiser who attended the Park City retreat.
On Tuesday, his campaign initiated a second round of staff cuts and eliminated roughly two dozen jobs. In total, the campaign has 38 fewer staffers than it did two weeks ago before its cash crunch became public with a federal campaign filing.
This week, the governor is making fundraising sweeps through the South with events in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee.
The campaign is still working out the time and location for the economic speech, but it will be sandwiched in between a slate of fundraisers in the Midwest the week of July 31, including ones in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Missouri; and Wichita, Kansas.
In talking points distributed to donors in recent days, the DeSantis campaign called the economy and China two of the four central themes moving forward and indicated the economic message would zero in on inflation, government spending and domestic energy production.
In addition to campaigning and fundraising, the governor has been working on preparations for the first Republican debate on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee. DeSantis personally assured donors in Park City that he was taking the prep work seriously, and his team has been devising one-liners as well as brainstorming themes and policy areas they want to hit from the stage.
They are preparing for potentially sharing the stage with Trump, who hasn’t committed to attending the debate due to his wide polling lead, as well as the possibility that he skips the event entirely.
Since DeSantis’s official campaign launch, his team has been meeting at least once a week for debate prep, said people familiar with the schedule. Senior staffers involved include manager Generra Peck, pollster Ryan Tyson, policy guru Dustin Carmack and Jason Johnson, who worked for US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and helped him prepare for the presidential debates in 2016.
Economy
Liberals announce expansion to mortgage eligibility, draft rights for renters, buyers
OTTAWA – Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the government is making some changes to mortgage rules to help more Canadians to purchase their first home.
She says the changes will come into force in December and better reflect the housing market.
The price cap for insured mortgages will be boosted for the first time since 2012, moving to $1.5 million from $1 million, to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
On Aug. 1 eligibility for the 30-year amortization was changed to include first-time buyers purchasing a newly-built home.
Justice Minister Arif Virani is also releasing drafts for a bill of rights for renters as well as one for homebuyers, both of which the government promised five months ago.
Virani says the government intends to work with provinces to prevent practices like renovictions, where landowners evict tenants and make minimal renovations and then seek higher rents.
The government touts today’s announced measures as the “boldest mortgage reforms in decades,” and it comes after a year of criticism over high housing costs.
The Liberals have been slumping in the polls for months, including among younger adults who say not being able to afford a house is one of their key concerns.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Economy
Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales up 1.4% in July at $71B
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales rose 1.4 per cent to $71 billion in July, helped by higher sales in the petroleum and coal and chemical product subsectors.
The increase followed a 1.7 per cent decrease in June.
The agency says sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector gained 6.7 per cent to total $8.6 billion in July as most refineries sold more, helped by higher prices and demand.
Chemical product sales rose 5.3 per cent to $5.6 billion in July, boosted by increased sales of pharmaceutical and medicine products.
Sales of wood products fell 4.8 per cent for the month to $2.9 billion, the lowest level since May 2023.
In constant dollar terms, overall manufacturing sales rose 0.9 per cent in July.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Economy
S&P/TSX gains almost 100 points, U.S. markets also higher ahead of rate decision
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.
“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.
But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.
Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.
“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.
“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.
A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.
It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.
More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.
“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.
In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.
“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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