Markets Are Roller Coaster Ride Take Your Gravol!

Market remain top of mind
The Chase by Marty Cej:

The markets and what they are telling us about the global economy remains our top story. The Dow industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all tumbled more than 4 percent yesterday even as rallying gold stocks lifted the S&P/TSX Composite to its second-straight day of gains. Right now, U.S. index futures are mixed ahead of the weekly jobless claims data which will likely refocus the market's attention back on the employment picture. This will come as a surprise to a lot of people, but as the economists at TD Securities point out this morning, the trend in jobless claims in recent weeks "is more consistent with an economy adding jobs at a respectable 200K-plus pace per month than one that is on the verge of a recession." The claims report is out at 8:30 am Eastern and will likely dictate the direction of the futures market ahead of the open.

To be sure, an improving jobs picture does not mean a sudden rebound in consumer confidence but I can tell you this: U.S. executives of S&P 500 companies are buying stock in their own firms at the fastest pace since March of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. We'll see today whether that holds true for Canadian companies as well.

We'll kick off our analysis of financial markets and the underlying fundamentals this morning with a conversation with Linda Hasenfratz, the CEO of Linamar. Yesterday, Leo de Bever, who oversees $71 billion in assets at AIMCo in Alberta, told us that central and eastern Canada must brace for job losses in the months ahead as the slowing global economy again assails the country's manufacturing heartland. We'll see whether Linda agrees.

Peter Grosskopf, CEO of Sprott Inc., will help kick off Business Day AM at 9 am with some insight into the company's just-reported earnings – which appear to have missed expectations – and the market turmoil. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get his thoughts on gold.

David Garofalo, CEO of diversified miner Hudbay Minerals, joins us at 9:30 to give us his take on demand for the base metals that form the building blocks of industry as well as the surging popularity of gold. Speaking of gold, Steve Letwin, CEO of IAMGOLD, is with us at 10:45 and Tye Burt, CEO of Kinross Gold, sits down with us at 11:30. Between them, we'll spend half an hour with David Darst, chief investment strategist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. You may want to turn the volume down a wee bit - David's known for his enthusiasm. Brett Wilson, chairman of Canoe Financial and founder of FirstEnergy, spends some time with us at 11:15.

At 12:15, we are featuring a conversation with William White, former Chief Economist at the Bank of International Settlements. There are few people in the world right now who can provide the sort of insight Bill can with regards to the actions being taken now by central banks, the current state of the financial industry at home and abroad and the challenges facing the global economy.

If you can find a better three-and-a-half hours of must-see financial news, analysis and commentary to start your trading day anywhere – and I mean anywhere – I'll eat a vegetarian "hamburger." That's right, a vegetarian burger (my skin turned waxy and pale and my shoulders slouched just typing the word "vegetarian"). Now that's confidence.

Watch Cisco shares this morning after the company topped expectations after the close of trading last night.