The Daily Chase: April Fools' Day caution, potential TSX record

Here are five things you need to know this morning.

April Fools: It’s April 1, a day business journalists (and overly exuberant public relations interns) should live in fear of, thanks to the corporate urge to put out false news releases today, under the guise of winning over consumers with a little levity. Govern your news consumption accordingly. April Fools is a minefield of fake news at the best of times, but that’s not to suggest all the news today is without impact, as there’s at least one major piece of news relevant to all Canadians. The much ballyhooed increase to the federal carbon tax is now in force, which ups the levy for a tonne of carbon from $65 previously to $80 as of now. Most consumers will feel the hike most directly when filling up at the pump, as the increase should adjust more than three cents to the retail price for a litre of gasoline. That’s on top of the 14 cents it was previously.

Fool’s bargain: April 1 also marks the end of an era of sorts in the world of international trade, as pre-Brexit provisions that allowed the U.K. to sell products containing European Union parts to Canada without tariffs expire today. The failure to hammer out an extension on the so-called rules of origin provisions comes after both countries hit pause on talks to negotiate a broader free trade agreement that both sides claim to want. The biggest impact of this specific development is likely to be felt in the automotive sector, where Canada is Britain’s eighth-largest export market, with just shy of $1.2 billion worth of vehicles coming from the U.K. to Canada last year. Pre-Brexit, those cars were tariff-free, but as of now, some of them will face a levy of 6.1 per cent, which works out to about $5,000 per vehicle, British car industry officials say.

No fool’s gold: The price of gold surged to a new record high above US$2,265 an ounce on Monday, as global geopolitics and stubbornly high inflation continue to drive demand for the precious metal. Central banks have stepped up their bullion buying in recent months and investment banks are scrambling to up their price forecasts too. JPMorgan says $2,500 is possible, while the commodities strategists at Goldman Sachs say $2,300 is their new expectation. “Gold is just on a raging bull market,” Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone told BNN Bloomberg’s The Street this morning. “Maybe it’s overbought in the short term … but it’s been consolidating around $2,000 for four years so it’s just catching up.”