Older homeowners often view reverse mortgages as financial booby traps. Many find it too hard to know how much of their wealth will remain once the loan stops compounding.

A major wildcard in that equation is the average effective interest rate over the life of the loan. Seniors who endured the early 1980s carry a deeply imprinted fear that rates could again rip higher and deplete equity with alarming velocity.

That brings up an interesting question for those contemplating a reverse mortgage: wouldn't it be comforting never to have to worry about the interest rate again?

Bloom Finance asked this very same question.

While the American lamented surprise layoffs last week, Friday’s big story was north of the border. For the second month in a row, StatCan pulled a statistically improbable rabbit out of its hat.

Canada's job creation machine was supposed to be broken.

Instead, its rusty gears just churned out a whopping:

• 66.6k net jobs in October (est. -2.5k | prior 60.4k)
• 6.9% unemployment (est. 7.1% | prior 7.1%)
• 4.0% wage growth for permanent employees
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Even the most feathery of doves can't deny that these headline numbers were shockingly racy for an economy that's supposedly sputtering.

With three critical U.S. employment reports sidelined by the government shutdown this week, Thursday’s Challenger report—normally a second-tier, private-sector jobs survey—grabbed the spotlight.

Bond yields tumbled when it revealed that October layoffs had shot through the roof, which is never reassuring unless you're in the severance-consulting business.

Let's hope that disaster hasn't spread north ahead of Canada's numbers on Friday.

The U.S. government shutdown officially became the longest in history on Wednesday, with no resolution in sight.

Among other things, a prolonged shutdown cuts government spending, delays projects, derails federal payroll and kills a huge swath of data production. That is disinflationary and growth-negative, but it's also (usually) rate-friendly.

Either way, markets found a headlamp in the data darkness. Specifically, 5-year yields defied gravity after services and U.S. private payrolls beat forecasts.

The budget is out, and the Liberal Government is spending big this year...

Because why stop now?

"Investments" in economic rebuilding resulted in a projected deficit nearly double last year’s estimate.

That aside, Ottawa's fiscal plan contained no bombshells for the housing market—and even a few goodies.