I just got word that the BoC has increased its key lending rate by another 25 basis points after pausing during the previous two meetings. Going against expectations, the bank raised the lending rate to 4.75%. Darn, that means everyone here in Canada with a variable rate HELOC account is now paying more on interest and less on premiums. Car loans are going up too as well as mortgages and credit card balances. 

Just when we're trying to get back on our feet after years of miserable lockdowns that sent so many tens of thousands of businesses into bankruptcy, the central bankers are raising rates in a fury to slow everything down, otherwise, to purposely cause a recession. Of course, this is to fight the high inflation rate they caused by mass money printing these last few years like the world has never seen before.

Next up is the FED. The BoC's move should be a heads up as to the direction the FED is going. The U.S.market along with the world's markets are 'banking' on a pause. Well, so was the Canadian market regarding any BoC rate hike until this morning. 

I also caught wind that the Hilton Group is letting two of San Francisco's largest hotels, which it owns, into receivership. This leaves the lender holding the bag on what once were valuable pieces of real estate. Not anymore as prices on commercial real estate collapse due to less travel and less occupancy related to 'work from home', not to mention high crime rates. Large cities everywhere are going to experience this as corporations default on expensive debts. We may see some very big names go down in the very near future because their debt loads are too heavy.

All the while, the smog is getting worse from all the forest fires here in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Heck, all of Canada's on fire. I live about an hour's highway drive west from Toronto and I can tell you, we haven't had rain in exactly two weeks and along with very high temperatures, it's gotten very dry and dusty around here. Yesterday, I read an article that New York was blanketed in what is basically soot from these fires. This morning, Montreal made the news too. Let's hope we get rain soon to stop all these fires.

As for these rate hikes, it looks to me like they will continue to go up so it's a good idea to concentrate on paying down any debts. I know I am!