G20 close their wallets
The chase by Marty Cej:
The dialogue in last night's winner for Best Picture at the Oscars was more riveting than what emerged from the G20 meetings over the weekend. Finance ministers from the world's "leading economies" told Europe that it must put up more of its own money if it hopes to get more cash from the rest of the world. The statement was a relatively straightforward exhortation to Germany to drop its opposition to a bigger bailout fund and to contribute more for the benefit of the union. The finance ministers and central bankers who attended the meeting – setting the groundwork for a conference of G20 leaders in the weeks ahead – told Europe that they would be willing to throw more money at the IMF but that the IMF cannot be a substitute for a stronger, effective firewall and that the IMF can't move forward anyway without a clear plan for Europe by Europe. In short, the week begins where last week ended.
European stocks are lower and U.S. stock index futures are pointing to early declines in the wake of the G20's communiqué. Investors are also pointing to the rally in crude oil as an excuse for Monday's declines in Asian and European stocks, though the oil rally started back at the beginning of October. Oil is up more than 40 percent since October 4 and needs to stay near the top of our news agenda. Mike Mazar, energy services analyst at BMO Capital Markets, joins us at 10:10 am Eastern to talk about the best opportunities in the sector.
Warren Buffett sent his annual letter out to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders this weekend, apologizing for getting the bottom of the housing market wrong and insisting that the board had found the right guy to lead the company once he steps down, only Buffett wouldn't name the Next in Line. Buffett continues to insist that stocks are the way to go and that they will perform better than bonds, gold or any other investment this year. He also says single-family homes are relatively cheap and recommends that first-time buyers step into the market now and lock in a 30-year mortgage for next-to-nothing. This week sees a raft of housing data, starting with today's pending home sales for January, then the Case-Shiller U.S. home price index Wednesday and mortgage applications due out Thursday.
Today marks the beginning of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Among the keynote speakers this week are the CEOs or Chairmen of Nokia, Cisco, Vodafone, Spring Nextel, Google, Ford Motor Co., Ebay, Best Buy, China Mobile, Alcatel Lucent and Deutsche Telekom. Among our focuses this week is the relevance of Research In Motion, as in, is it relevant any more.
Bank of Montreal kicks of Canadian bank earnings season tomorrow, followed by RBC and TD on Thursday.
Today also marks the trade deadline for the NHL. Fingers are crossed in the BNN newsroom that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be traded for an NHL hockey team.
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