Are U.S. rate cuts near an End?

Are U.S. rate cuts near an end?
RTGAM

Here's Allan Robinson's At The Bell which you'll find in tomorrow's newspaper:

The U.S. economy is just crawling along, but investors are betting that the U.S. Federal Reserve Board is almost finished its work, at least so far as lowering short-term interest rates go.The consensus opinion is that the Fed will lower the federal funds rate by one-quarter of a percentage point today to 2 per cent, but what investors will be looking for are hints."Growth appears to have ground to a halt with consumers tapped out, businesses on a recession-watch, and home builders still hacking away at output to pare bloated inventories," said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist with BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.Nevertheless, it looks like the Fed may signal a pause in its rate-cutting strategy, Mr. Guatieri said.

"There's a sense if you keep cutting rates you get less and less of a bang for the buck," he said. The Fed has reduced the cost of borrowing and helped to deal with the availability of credit, he said. The federal funds rate has been lowered three percentage points since September.WHAT TO KEEP AN EYE ONThere is a lot of stimulus that has been injected into the system and concern is growing about the impact of the weak U.S. dollar on inflation, Mr. Guatieri said.

The first-quarter gross domestic product data, which is also scheduled for release today, is forecast to have increased at an annual rate of 0.5 per cent, compared with 0.6 per cent during the fourth quarter, according to a survey of economists by Bloomberg.Rising price pressures are also expected to be evident today with the GDP price index increasing to an annual rate of 3 per cent during the first quarter, up from 2.4 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2007 and only 1 per cent in the third quarter.HOW WILL THE MARKET REACT?All in all, that leaves investors in the somewhat precarious position of waiting for the economic turnaround.And indications that the Fed might be ending its rate-cutting strategy have already led to a stronger U.S. dollar.

The problem facing investors is that energy and materials, which account for about 50 per cent of the S+P/TSX, would be exposed to weaker commodity prices resulting from the stronger dollar. "A change in equilibrium of resource prices will have a large effect on the [index] performance," wrote Clement Gignac and Pierre Lapointe, strategists with National Bank Financial Inc.Copyright 2001 The Globe and Mail

PDP News

Petrolifera to participate in COPIC Producers Spring Conference; Posts new slide presentation on websitecnw

CALGARY, April 28 /CNW/ - Petrolifera Petroleum Limited (PDP - TSX) announced today that it is a participant at the 2008 COPIC Producers Spring Conference in Toronto, Ontario on April 29 and 30, 2008 and in Montreal on May 1, 2008. Presenting to the conference at

approximately 12:30 PM MST on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 and 9:30 AM on Thursday, May 1, 2008 will be Mr. Richard Gusella, Executive Chairman, Mr. Gary Wine, President and Chief

Operating Officer, and Mr. Kristen Bibby, Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer.To access the webcast of the presentation please go to the link provided below.http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=2233660

Stocks sputter

Market News:
After the BellThe close: Stocks sputterRTGAMNorth America's modest rally turned south in the afternoon on Monday, leaving major indexes down slightly for the day.The S[amp]amp;P/TSX composite index closed at 14,085.85, down 18.02 points, or 0.1 per cent, sunk by the materials sub-index. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., a materials stock, was the biggest single drag on the composite index:

Its shares fell 7.1 per cent, to $195.55, as part of a wider selloff among agriculture-themed stocks. Agrium Inc. fell 6.6 per cent.These steep losses were offset by Research In Motion Ltd., which rose 1.4 per cent, and Manulife Financial Corp., which rose 2.1 per cent. Royal Bank of Canada, which was downgraded to a "sell" recommendation by an analyst at Citigroup, fell 0.4 per cent.

The analyst believes Royal Bank will suffer another $4.2-billion in writedowns this year.After markets closed, Canadian Oil Sands Trust reported that its cash from operating activities doubled in the first quarter, to 92 cents a unit. The trust raised its quarterly distribution by 33 per cent. Its units closed at $46.32, up 91 cents.The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 12,871.75, down 20.11 points or 0.2 per cent. Microsoft Corp. fell 2.8 per cent after the deadline for Yahoo Inc. to accept its takeover offer came and went on the weekend.The broader S[amp]amp;P 500 closed at 1396.37, down 1.47 points or 0.1 per cent. Ford Motor Co. rose 9.5 per cent and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. rose 23.2 - the result of superstars Kirk Kerkorian and Warren Buffett, respectively, moving in on the stocks.

However, Monsanto Co. fell 2.8 per cent amid rising volatility in agriculture stocks. Visa Inc. reported after markets closed that its first-quarter profit rose 28 per cent. Its adjusted net income during the quarter - the first as a publicly traded company - beat expectations by a wide margin.[amp]nbsp;[amp]nbsp;Copyright 2001 The Globe and Mail

Post says Timminco will want to avoid Ceramic's fate

Post says Timminco will want to avoid Ceramic's fate
2008-04-25 08:20 ET - In the News
Also In the News (C-CEP) Ceramic Protection Corp


The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that Timminco will want to avoid Ceramic Protection's tribulations. The Post's Barry Critchley, writing in Off the Record, says Timminco's chairman and chief executive officer is Heinz Schimmelbusch, the former CEO of Metallgesselschaft. He was fired in 1993 after the company's $1.2-billion (U.S.) in trading losses.

In September, 2004, Mr. Schimmelbusch was the chairman of Allied Resource when that company sold Alanx Wear Solutions to Alberta's Ceramic Protection. At the time, John Walsh was Alanx's CEO. As part of the deal, he joined Ceramic Protection. In December, 2006, Mr. Walsh moved on to became president and CEO of Timminco.

In August, 2007, Mr. Walsh became president of Timminco's magnesium division. Two weeks ago, Timminco said Mr. Walsh "had resigned to pursue other opportunities." Ceramic's problems started in September, 2006, when Arizona-based ArmorWorks, a customer of Alanx, cancelled a supply agreement. Ceramic sued. ArmorWorks countersued.

Thirteen months later, Ceramic and ArmorWorks settled. During that period, Ceramic's shares fell from $23.98 to $6.50 the day before the resolution was announced. The stock closed Thursday at $2.35.