The Chase by Marty Cej:
Asian stocks tumbled, European equities are sliding and U.S. index futures are pointing to declines at the open of North American trading. Judging from the number of photographs of floor traders pinching the bridges of their noses on front pages and news websites, it could be another rough ride for equity investors.
Not so much for bond markets and gold investors, though. Government bond yields in Canada and the U.S. were driven to record lows yesterday and remain close to those levels while gold has pushed to new records. With no U.S. data out this morning to confirm or undermine economic worries, investors will be hard pressed to come up with an easy excuse to buy or sell.
It will be a different story in Canada, however, as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney testify before a parliamentary committee on the impact the European debt crisis and U.S. slowdown will have on the Canadian economy and financial markets. We'll take Minister Flaherty's testimony live beginning at 9 am Eastern. Carney sits down at 10 am. TD Bank Chief Economist Craig Alexander will follow the testimony for us in studio.
Economists and traders expect the Canadian fiscal- and monetary policy decision makers to insist that the Canadian economy and Canuck companies will remain resilient in the event of a more severe economic downturn.
Inflation is not a major concern, as evidenced by this morning's Canadian CPI data; corporate balance sheets are strong and many commodity prices are at or near record highs. They can expect Flaherty to tout the "soundness" of the Canadian banks and scold the profligate ways of other nations. Governor Carney will assure the committee that the central bank has all the tools necessary to help stimulate the economy in the event of a severe downturn and the Bank of Canada is one of the few members of the Group of Seven that is able to cut rates if needs be. But is there a need?
The markets should brace for any change in the fiscal projections by the government or cuts to economic growth assumptions.
Canadian tech stocks could garner a lot of attention this morning. Research In Motion continues to be the subject of intense takeover speculation in the wake of Google's $12.5-billion takeover of Motorola Mobility and the successful multi-billion-dollar auction of Nortel's patents. Bloomberg reports this morning that analysts at Morgan Keegan estimate that RIM may now be worth $25 billion thanks to the value of its patents.
Sure, that's a far cry from the $83 billion that RIM was valued at during its peak, but it's a nice premium on the $13.5 billion market cap the company now sports. Analyst Peter Misek at Jefferies raised the stock to "hold" from "underperform."
Open Text will also be in focus after HP said it would buy Autonomy of the UK for $11 billion. Analysts at National Bank say Open Text could be the next target in the industry and IBM the most likely buyer. National Bank also says a bidding war between SAP and Oracle is not out of the question.
Banks will be a key sector for us to follow today and in the coming weeks. How "sound" are Canadian banks relative to the rest of the world? How do they measure up in terms of Tier 1 capital, for example, or tangible common equity? It is not enough for us to refer back to a report written months ago. Times have changed and so have the banks.
Gold has soared to another record high. The commodity, the companies, the ETFs… buy, sell, hold? They are all angles.
Oil is slumping. Same deal as gold, only different.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Markets wait on Carney as rout continues
Thursday, August 18, 2011
A Red Day Across The World -
Volume Leaders
Symbol Name Last Trade Change Volume Related Info SU.TO SUNCOR ENERGY INC. 30.12 
2,673,534 Chart, Profile, More MFC.TO MANULIFE FIN 13.20 2,504,137 Chart, Profile, More YLO.TO YELLOW MEDIA INC. 1.10 2,482,622 Chart, More LUN.TO LUNDIN MINING CORP. 5.24 2,113,409 Chart, Profile, More YRI.TO YAMANA GOLD INC 15.53 
1,953,453 Chart, Profile, More K.TO KINROSS GOLD CORP. 16.50 1,808,353 Chart, More BBD-B.TO BOMBARDIER INC., CL. B, SV 4.94 1,604,184 Chart, Profile, More TRE.TO SINO-FOREST CORP 5.20 1,534,789 Chart, Profile, More TCK-B.TO Teck Resources Limited 39.72 1,348,119 Chart, Profile, More WIN.TO WI-LAN INC 6.76 1,247,910 Chart, Profile, More ABX.TO BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION 49.53 1,152,217 Chart, Profile, More RY.TO ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 50.34 1,095,820 Chart, Profile, More UUU.TO URANIUM ONE INC. 2.85 1,056,340 Chart, Profile, More ECA.TO ENCANA CORP. 23.98 1,022,234 Chart, Profile, More G.TO GOLDCORP INC 50.27 968,582 Chart, Profile, More COS.TO CANADIAN OIL SANDS LIMITED 21.38 960,964 Chart, More TD.TO TD US Small-Cap Equity - I 74.26 944,286 Chart, Profile, More POT.TO POTASH CORP OF SASK INC 52.28 937,215 Chart, Profile, More CMK.TO CLINE MINING CORP 1.76 935,331 Chart, Profile, More PRQ.TO PROGRESS ENERGY RESOURCES CORP. 12.46 923,040 Chart, Profile, More CNQ.TO CDN NATURAL RES 34.51 892,164 Chart, Profile, More RIM.TO RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED 25.37 889,997 Chart, Profile, More NGD.TO NEW GOLD INC. 12.35 870,143 Chart, Profile, More LSG.TO LAKE SHORE GOLD CORP. 2.23 865,927 Chart, Profile, More NEM.TO NEO MATERIAL TECHNOLOGIES INC 9.10 866,638 Chart, Profile, More Volume Leaders
Symbol Name Last Trade Change Volume Related Info BAC Bank of America Corporation Com 6.90 116,460,784 Chart, Profile, More GE General Electric Company Common 15.37 35,030,050 Chart, Profile, More C Citigroup, Inc. New Common Stoc 27.00 34,432,499 Chart, Profile, More VXX iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Fu 38.44 34,352,807 Chart, Profile, More EMC EMC Corporation Common Stock 20.13 32,217,896 Chart, Profile, More SDS ProShares UltraShort S&P500 25.94 29,091,962 Chart, Profile, More F Ford Motor Company Common Stock 10.42 28,957,879 Chart, Profile, More EK Eastman Kodak Company Common St 3.02 25,234,783 Chart, Profile, More S Sprint Nextel Corporation Comm 3.59 23,256,155 Chart, Profile, More FAS Direxion Financial Bull 3X Shar 12.69 22,039,284 Chart, Profile, More NOK Nokia Corporation Sponsored Ame 5.61 20,890,951 Chart, Profile, More MGM MGM Resorts International Commo 10.13 20,318,972 Chart, Profile, More PFE Pfizer, Inc. Common Stock 17.86 18,014,447 Chart, Profile, More JPM JP Morgan Chase & Co. Common St 34.91 16,534,770 Chart, Profile, More T AT&T Inc. 28.54 14,955,995 Chart, Profile, More SSO ProShares Ultra S&P500 38.99 14,140,626 Chart, Profile, More HPQ Hewlett-Packard Company Common 29.20 13,423,706 Chart, Profile, More WFC Wells Fargo & Company Common St 23.70 13,316,988 Chart, Profile, More FAZ Direxion Financial Bear 3X Shar 65.69 13,016,947 Chart, Profile, More TBT ProShares UltraShort Lehman 20+ 23.78 11,911,554 Chart, Profile, More AA Alcoa Inc. Common Stock 11.58 11,814,972 Chart, Profile, More NLY Annaly Capital Management Inc C 18.17 11,042,045 Chart, Profile, More IVR INVESCO MORTGAGE CAPITAL INC Co 17.59 11,040,556 Chart, Profile, More MS Morgan Stanley Common Stock 15.72 10,574,569 Chart, Profile, More TZA Direxion Small Cap Bear 3X Shar 53.77 10,358,845 Chart, Profile, More
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