• Self-driving truck startup Embark Trucks announced Wednesday that it had agreed to go public through a SPAC deal which would value the company at roughly $5.2 billion. The company, which currently has a small developmental fleet running some routes in Southern California, will combine with Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp II. 
• Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that the Delta variant of COVID-19 is the "greatest threat" to the U.S.'s attempt to eliminate COVID-19. Fauci also said that the variant now makes up about 20% of U.S. cases, up from just 10% two weeks ago, and that infections are doubling about every two weeks. He urged more Americans to get fully vaccinated to control the outbreak.  
• The E.U.'s top court ruled Tuesday that Alphabet's YouTube is not liable for illegal uploads of copyright-protected content under its old rules. However, YouTube and other platforms will be liable if they are aware of illegal content and do not immediately delete or block it. A revised E.U. copyright law took effect earlier this month. 
• The Canadian Senate passed bill C-218 on Tuesday, approving single event sports betting in the country. Experts expect sports betting to be operating in the country by the fall. DraftKings has recently expanded its daily fantasy partnership with the NFL to include Canada, and MGM Resorts has partnered with Wayne Gretzky as a brand ambassador. 
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged Tuesday that some inflation pressures are more persistent than anticipated, but said that it's "very, very unlikely" the U.S. will see 1970s-style inflation again. In his testimony to Congress, Powell also said that the current situation is the result of “extremely strong demand for labor, goods and services.”

Microsoft (MSFT) became the second company to reach a $2 trillion valuation Tuesday after Apple (AAPL), but closed just shy of the mark. The company passed the $1 trillion mark just over two years ago. Saudi Aramco briefly commanded a $2 trillion valuation, but today is worth $1.88 trillion. 

Best sustainable dividend picks

REITs, G8 Education, and IRESS are among the names for investors seeking sustainability and dividends.

Coles forced to boost spending amid shift to online groceries

It’s got the balance sheet to do it, but it lags behind larger rival Woolworths.  

Avita price spikes on fourth-quarter revenue upgrade

A return to normal has increased the incidence of burns and that means business for the spray-on-skin maker.

Globalisation declining? Not in investor portfolios

Morningstar Indexes through a geographic revenue lens.

Biotech beyond covid

Are there still opportunities in the biotech sector now the covid-19 vaccine rollout is underway? We ask International Biotechnology Trust manager Ailsa Craig

Treasury bond yields remained muted as investors continue to buy government debt hoping that the recovery will be long-lasting. Commodity prices were mixed, with crude oil prices losing some ground, while agricultural commodities regained some of their recent losses. Inflationary pressures are causing big swings in commodity prices in general, as traders try to predict how long and how strong demand will be in the next few months.

Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, also went on a wild swing today as the price fell below $30,000 for the first time since late January. It recovered those losses and is currently positive for the day. As Bitcoin swings, so do the other major crypto tokens, and the publicly traded companies that are in its ecosystem. Shares of Coinbase (COIN), the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., are down 35% since the company's IPO.

But after dominating the headlines for the first few months of the year, interest in cryptocurrencies is cooling off considerably, according to Google search trends. It looks like investors are coming back to learning about how the stock and options markets actually work.

Soaring prices and limited supply continue to impact the U.S. housing market.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported existing home sales fell for the fourth month in a row in May, down 0.9%. The median price rose to yet another record, $350,300, up 2.5% from April and a 23.6% jump from last May.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun noted that lack of homes on the market continues to be the overwhelming factor keeping down sales, but he also added the high prices are squeezing out first-time buyers. Just 31% of purchases were by first-time buyers, down from 34% a year ago. 

Going Fast

Homes that were available were being snapped up quickly. The NAR found that properties typically had been up for sale for just 17 days, tying the April record for fewest days on the market since the organization began keeping track of that data a decade ago.

However, Yun is optimistic that more properties will become available soon, and that should help stabilize prices. The NAR said inventories rose 7% from April, but they were still more than 20% lower than what was available in May of 2020.

RYAH Group Ships Devices for Use in Pilot Program with Medicann in Jersey, Channel Islands

TORONTO, June 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RYAH Group, Inc. (CSE:RYAH) (“RYAH” or the “Company”) today announces that it has completed an initial shipment of its proprietary RYAH Smart Dry Herb Inhalers for use in a pilot study to be conducted by Medicann in Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, located between England and France. Medicann is a premier cannabis-specialized clinic, providing patients with access to local specialist doctors and pharmacists that have experience prescribing cannabis-based medication. Medicann is launching an observational study using RYAH Smart Dry Herb Inhalers in order to collect patient feedback on consumption of cannabis strains available on the Island, including strains supplied by Aurora Europe, a subsidiary of Canadian-headquartered Aurora Cannabis Inc., a global leader in the cannabis industry serving both medical and consumer markets and dedicated to helping people improve their lives.

In addition to the pilot program, the parties are working toward an exclusive, definitive supply and distribution agreement, which, if entered into, is expected to position Medicann as the sole supplier and distributor of the RYAH Smart Dry Herb Inhalers in the region.

Jersey, Channel Islands, which is known to have one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, is a British dependency island ideally situated in the English Channel off the coast of France. In 2019, the island's economy grew by 2.1% in real terms to £4.97 billion.

By 2024, the medicinal cannabis market within the United Kingdom is predicted to be worth nearly US$1.3 billion, servicing nearly 340,000 active patients. According to a report by the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board, the U.K. has emerged as the largest supplier of medicinal cannabis in the world. The European cannabis market is forecast to grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 67.4% to reach 3.2 billion euros ($3.75 billion) by 2025.