Economy pours tax dollars into rosy budget blueprint...
Thanks to the high-side economic surprise of the last year, what looked like wishing and hoping last March appears more plausible 12 months later
· TSX -13.70 to 14,000 as energy stocks failed to respond to higher oil prices while investors took in good news about efforts to bring an overheated Japanese nuclear complex under control
· DOW -17.90 to 12,018.63
· Dollar -.02c to 102.05c USD as retail statistics came in below expectations. Statistics Canada reported lower auto sales were the main reason retail sales decreased by 0.3 per cent to $37.1 billion in January, the second decline in two months. The subsector with the largest sales increase in dollars was food and beverage stores. Economists had expected overall retail sales to rise by 1.1 per cent.
· Oil +$1.67 to $104.00USD per barrel as coalition forces continue to launch air attacks to enforce a no-fly zone against Libya.
· Gold +$1.20 to $1427.60 per ounce
· Canadian 5 yr bond yields markets -.01bps to 2.57. The spread (based on the MERIX 5 yr rate published rate of 4.04%) is at the centre of the comfort zone at 1.47.
(courtesy of Barb Morgan, DBD Ontario Southwest)
