(On Wednesday) it was oil and gas and on Thursday it's paper and forest products and gold, which is a name you don't hear too often on the winning side. |
[March's report] didn't meet the markets' worst fears, and on those grounds I view it as somewhat bullish, ... I don't really see any discernable sign that job growth is slowing. The underlying trend is still extremely robust job growth, which will lead the Fed to raise rates again. |
[Monday's 10-year yield] is really not out of line with the average rate we've seen in the past six to nine months. The kind of levels where I'd be getting concerned would be from about 4.5 percent and up. |
After about a two-week lull we'll get back to business this week, ... We've had a few signs that the economy is losing some momentum and these reports will help indicate whether that's really the case. |
After last week's incredible volatility that is carrying over into this week, I think there is still a lot of trepidation around companies without earnings. |
Again the technology story remains dominant, ... that was certainly the major story of the fourth quarter of 1999. |
And I think a lot of it flows from a combination of very positive Canadian economic data on Thursday, as well as more signs out of the U.S. that the U.S. economy is cooling to a sustainable pace and that the (Federal Reserve) will be on hold for some time. |
And so far we really haven't seen any response whatsoever on the consumer spending front. |
As has been the story for most of this month, again on Monday it's largely a technology story. |
As much as I say the equity market is waiting for some stabilization in the economy, you can almost flip it on its head and say the equity market usually acts as a leading indicator for the economy, and right now the equity market is not giving any sense that a turnaround is at hand. |
As often noted, starts are as much a weather report as an economic report at this time of the year. |
As the negatives keep stacking up for the province, we will see growth weaken . . . and begin to dig into the province's revenues. |
At the very least, it drums on the point that they'll continue to raise interest rates. By deductive reasoning, you'd assume that they don't have a big problem with the strength of the currency. |
Because we do have two very strong hot spots (Alberta and B.C.) it does somewhat increase the risk from inflation for the country as a whole. |
Beneath this calm surface, the economy is churning mightily below, with wide divergence among sectors. |