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Global markets are climbing again this morning, though Canadian investors should take note: Toronto has been "wildly" underperforming as other exchanges push fresh highs.

Toronto is down about 20 per cent from its peak.

he Globe and Mail’s Sean Silcoff and Dianne Nice hosted an online chat today with Vijai Mohan, the founder of a small U.S. hedge fund who’s perhaps better known as the man who’s selling Canada short.

Brazil has been stuck in a pattern of slow growth since Ms. Rousseff took office last year, as companies struggle with high costs and severe infrastructure and labour bottlenecks. Ms. Rousseff has tried to revive activity with numerous tax cuts and other stimulus, but Friday’s data showed that companies are not responding, as investment fell for a fifth straight quarter.

Friday’s data renews concerns that its slow growth is not a cyclical issue, but the result of deeply rooted structural problems after strong growth of the previous decade.

The measures that the government imagined would be capable of bringing Brazil out of the global crisis weren’t enough

Canadian consumer debt hit a record high in the third quarter, driven by loans to purchase new cars

The average Canadian’s non-mortgage debt reached $26,768 in the third quarter

fastest pace of debt accumulation in nearly two years

2. Buy a car

Some people pay cash for a car, but most of us borrow or lease. Always weigh the cost of borrowing against using your own savings.

3. Save for education

Managing day-to-day spending/budgeting came in third, selected by eight per cent of respondents and down from 14 per cent last year.

45-64 named retirement planning as their top financial priority, which fell to just 12 per cent among that age group in this year’s survey.

“Even small contributions today can make it easier in future years to reach your retirement savings goals,”

The Bank of Canada has laid out a clearer path for interest rates, pushing back the timing of an eventual increase

Bank of Canada’s benchmark rate from its current setting of 1 per cent.

167 per cent

gap between Canada’s rich and poor is growing

the income gap in Canada is well above the 34-country average, though still not as extreme as in the United States

Countries with greater income inequality tend to see shorter, less sustained periods of economic growth

Baby boomers are targeted because after struggling to get an education in skills that would land a job, and after decades of effort, they have accumulated some wealth.

To them, we symbolize intergenerational inequality.

Your future will be defined by how well you learn skills that match the needs of the job market. Those who gain useful skills will find higher paying, more rewarding jobs; those without that knowledge will face low-paying, unstable prospects.

Some basic tips: “Don’t add any more to your debt,” Mr. Schwartz said, “Put your credit cards away. Stop using your line of credit. Live on cash or debit.”

Canadian borrowing levels have hit record levels, with household debt-to-income ratio recently reaching a high of 164.6 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

But consulting a trustee, which comes with no charge, doesn’t always mean filing for bankruptcy, he explained. Trustees can help set budgets, steer consumers toward consolidation loans, mortgage refinancing or consumer proposals as a way to climb out of debt, he said.

A fault line is splintering Canada’s labour market into those who can’t find work and those who can’t find workers.

employers across the country say they can’t find the right workers for all kinds of available jobs.

Groups with high jobless rates such as aboriginal people, recent immigrants and those with disabilities are struggling to land good jobs, limiting their ability to climb the economic ladder.