Month: March 2011

Dear Friends,

Off to Art in Bloom again tonight….the Art Gallery and gardening community has been hosting seminars/lectures this week about two of my favorite topics.  Last night we heard Dominique Browning’s lecture on the healing capacity of creating a garden.  Tonight, Thomas Hobb’s spins his magic in another presentation.…a few more before it’s over so check it out!

 

photos of the day

March 31, 2011

A bee flies to a crocus flower on a warm, sunny early spring day in Warsaw, Poland when temperature of 63 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded.

Czarek Sokolowski/AP

 

 

 

 

A woman holds a lantern at the entrance to the ‘Harry Potter: The Exhibition’ during a preview in New York. The exhibit will open to the public on April 1.

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

 

Market Closes for March 31^st, 2011

North American markets

	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	12,319.70	-30.88  -0.25%	+6.41%
S&P 500	1,325.83	-2.43  -0.18%	+5.42%
NASDAQ	2,781.07	+4.28  +0.15%	+4.83%
TSX	14,116.10	+32.52  +0.32%	+4.

International markets

	Close	Change
Nikkei	9,755.10	+46.31  +0.48%
Hang Seng	23,527.50	+76.09  +0.32%
SENSEX	19,445.22	+155.04  +0.80%
FTSE 100	5,908.76	-39.54  -0.66%
CAC 40	3,989.18	-35.26  -0.88%
DAX	7,041.31	-15.84  -0.22%

Bonds

Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.24	101.66	3.34%
Cdn. 30-year bond	104.50	105.08	3.75%
U.S. 10-year bond	101.08	101.19	3.47%
U.S. 30-year bond	103.30	104.00	4.51%

Currency

BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.0290	1.0294
US $	0.9718	0.9714

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7256	0.7304
Euro	1.3782	1.3691

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1,432.90	1,423.50

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.79	104.26

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 31 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, capping a third-straight quarterly gain, as oil advanced the day before the U.S. March employment report and gold climbed after European inflation exceeded most economists’ forecasts.

Bombardier Inc., the maker of trains and airplanes, jumped 13 percent after reporting earnings that topped the average of 20 analyst estimates by 43 percent, excluding certain items.

Inter Pipeline Fund increased 5.4 percent as oil rose on concern the Libyan conflict will cut production. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. rallied 1.1 percent after the U.S. reported smaller corn inventories than analysts had estimated.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index climbed 32.52 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,116.10.

“Oil’s up because people are expecting good jobs numbers,” said Paul Ma, who manages C$500 million ($514 million) as a money manager at McLean & Partners in Calgary.

“Economic growth is up, people drive more cars. Gold is up because of inflation. When there’s inflation, where do people go? Gold.”

The index has gained 5 percent this year as the Canadian and U.S. economies expanded and oil prices surged 17 percent on unrest in the Middle East. The equity benchmark slipped 0.1 percent for the month, ending a streak of eight monthly advances.

In addition to reporting its biggest quarterly profit in two years, Bombardier said today it won a A$269 million ($278 million) train contract from the government of South Australia.

Shares of the Montreal-based company rose 13 percent to a 30-month high of C$7.13.

Crude increased 2.4 percent to a 30-month high. Inter Pipeline climbed 5.4 percent to a record C$17.08. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., which produces oil in Colombia, advanced for the first time in eight days, rallying 4 percent to C$26.90.

Bankers Petroleum Ltd., which produces oil and gas in Albania, surged 7.1 percent to C$8.70 after agreeing to pay $34 million to take over 140 wells from Albpetrol Sh.A.

Precious-metals producers climbed after the European Union said consumer prices rose the most in more than two years in March. Bond yields increased in Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, gained 0.6 percent to C$50.39. Goldcorp Inc., the No. 2 producer of the metal by market value, advanced 0.5 percent to C$48.34.

Rubicon Minerals Corp., which explores for gold in Ontario, soared 16 percent to C$5.02 after releasing a resource estimate.

Osisko Mining Corp., which is developing a gold project in Quebec, dropped 3.8 percent to C$13.96 after saying 2011-12 production may be lower than it previously forecast.

Potash Corp., the world’s largest fertilizer producer, and Agrium Inc. rose after the U.S. Agriculture Department said corn stocks fell 15 percent from a year earlier.

Potash Corp. gained 1 percent to C$57.18. Agrium Inc., Canada’s second-largest fertilizer producer, advanced 2.9 percent to C$89.53.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, climbed 2.5 percent to C$125.42 after Raymond Goldie, an analyst at Salman Partners Inc., raised his 12-month share-price estimate to C$130.75 from C$127. In a note to clients, Goldie cited a reserves increase for the company’s Kevitsa project in Finland.

Central banks’ asset-purchasing programs, known as quantitative easing, were the stimulus for the S&P/TSX’s streak of increases, Ma said.

“Quantitative easing, whether from Japan, from Europe, from London or from the Fed, 100 percent of the time lifts the market up,” he said. When the Fed announced a second round of easing in November, “we put all our money in. We went pedal to the metal.”

US

By Cecile Vannucci

March 31 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, trimming the biggest first-quarter rally for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1998, as a Federal Reserve official said interest rates may need to rise and concern about Europe’s debt crisis grew.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. lost 2.1 percent as David Sokol, once a candidate to succeed Warren Buffett as the head of the investment firm, resigned. CarMax Inc. slumped 7.2 percent after the largest U.S. seller of used cars said margins shrunk. Home Depot Inc., Intel Corp. and American Express Co. fell more than 1.3 percent to lead losses in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent to 1,325.83 at 4 p.m. in New York and advanced 5.4 percent during the January-March period.

The Dow average dropped 30.88 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,319.73 today. Stocks extended losses late in the session as Fed Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota told the Wall Street Journal that policy makers may have to lift rates to fight inflation.

“That kind of brought the market back to reality,” Michael Nasto, senior trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc., which manages $3 billion in San Antonio, Texas, said of Kocherlakota’s comments. “We had a negative tone set. It’s another example of people being a little bit timid about going to the market simply because of what they’re hearing.”

Equities fell earlier after Irish regulators instructed four banks to raise 24 billion euros ($34 billion) in additional capital following a stress test on the nation’s lenders.

Portugal reported a budget deficit of 8.6 percent of gross domestic product last year, higher than a government target of about 7 percent. In the U.S., jobless claims topped economist estimates a day before the Labor Department’s monthly labor data.

The S&P 500 usually climbs further following first-quarter gains similar to this year’s, according to Birinyi Associates Inc. The index has risen about 7.1 percent in the final three quarters of years following January-March gains of 5 percent to

7 percent, Birinyi data dating back to 1928 show.

The benchmark gauge of U.S. stocks is trading for about 13.7 times its companies’ estimated operating earnings, compared with an average multiple of 18.1 times reported profits over the last decade, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Jobless claims fell by 6,000 to 388,000 in the week ended March 26, the Labor Department said. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a decline to 380,000 claims. The report comes before tomorrow’s monthly government report on non-farm payrolls, expected to show that the economy added 190,000 jobs in March.

Other reports showed U.S. factory orders unexpectedly fell 0.1 percent after a 3.3 percent gain in January, the Commerce Department said today. The Institute for Supply Management- Chicago Inc.’s business barometer fell in March. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose for the first time in five weeks to minus 46.9 in the period ended March 27 from a seven-month low of minus 48.9 the prior week.

Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares fell 2.1 percent to $83.63. Sokol bought about 96,000 Lubrizol Corp. shares in January before recommending the company as a takeover target, according to a statement late yesterday from Buffett, Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive officer. Sokol had initiated confidential talks with Lubrizol the month before.

Berkshire agreed to buy the firm for $9 billion on March 14.

CarMax slumped 7.2 percent to $32.10, its biggest decline of the year. The largest U.S. seller of used cars said gross margin for the fourth-quarter fell to 14.2 percent from 14.5 percent in the year-ago period.

Home Depot, the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, fell 1.4 percent to $37.06. American Express, the biggest credit-card issuer by purchases, slid 1.6 percent to $45.20.

Intel Corp., the world’s largest chipmaker, fell 1.4 percent to $20.18 after FBR Capital Markets said in a note to clients the world’s largest chipmaker faces slower-than-expected growth in the personal-computer market during the second quarter and its Sandy Bridge products are not stimulating as much demand as anticipated.

American International Group Inc. fell 2.5 percent to $35.14 after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said it has declined the insurer’s $15.7 billion offer to purchase the residential-mortgage backed securities owned by the central bank’s Maiden Lane II LLC rescue fund.

U.S. Steel Corp. declined 4.2 percent to $53.94 after the Pittsburgh-based company was added to Deutsche Bank AG’s short- term sell list.

Rowan Cos. advanced 3 percent to $44.18 after Moody’s changed the offshore driller’s outlook to “stable” from “negative.”

CF Industries Holdings Inc., the world’s second-largest maker of nitrogen fertilizer, rallied 3.2 percent to $136.79.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported corn acreage this year will be the second largest since 1944 as increasing demand for food and fuel cuts stockpiles worldwide.

XL Group Plc added 4 percent to $24.60 after Egan-Jones Ratings Co. said the insurer stands good chance of a takeover by Berkshire Hathaway or other stronger peers.

The rebound in the S&P 500 isn’t over, according to Bay Crest Partners LLC. When the S&P 500 slipped to 1,249.05 on March 16, the weekly survey from the American Association of Individual Investors showed the next day that the ratio of bulls to bears fell to 0.71, the lowest since Aug. 26, Bloomberg data show. Christian Bendixen, director of technical research at Bay Crest, said the increase in pessimism may reverse and help the S&P 500 climb to 1,425, or 7.3 percent above yesterday’s close.

“We have some good reasons to want to own stocks,” said Perry Piazza, director of investment strategy at Contango Capital Advisors in San Francisco, who helps oversee about $3.3 billion of assets. “We know the energy and materials sectors are doing really well, we know the dollar is weak, we know that individual investors are interested again in coming back to the stock market. I don’t think it’s time to take your chips off the table yet.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

We would rather cling to the known than face the unknown – the known being our house, our furniture, our family, our character, our work, our knowledge, our fame, our loneliness, our gods – that little thing that moves around incessantly within itself, with its own limited embittered existence.

-Krishnamurti,1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through.  Face it. -Joseph Conrad, 1857-1924

Dear Friends,

 

March 30, 1921, Virginia Woolf  wrote in her diary while at Zennor:

This is the last evening, and Leonard is packing, and I’m not in the mood for writing, but feel superstitiously that I should like to read something actually  written in Cornwall.  By looking  over my left shoulder I see gorse yellow against the Atlantic blue.  And we’ve been lying on the Gurnard’s Head, on  beds of samphire among grey rocks with buttons of yellow lichen on them.  You look down onto the semi-transparent water – the waves all scrambled into white round the rocks – gulls swaying on bits of seaweed – rocks now dry now drenched with white waterfalls pouring down crevices. We took a rabbit path round the cliff, and I find myself a little shakier than I used to be.  Still however maintaining without force to my conscience that this is the loveliest place in the world.

photos of the day

March 30, 2011

A model arrives for the Christie’s Green Auction: Bid To Save The Earth event in New York March 29, 2011.

Lucas Jackson/Reuters

 

 

 

 

Britain’s Prince Harry (l.) tries out an immersion suit, during training for the Walking with the Wounded expedition, on the island of Spitsbergen, situated between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. The third in line to the British throne will train for three days before accompanying the team on the first five days of their four-week expedition.

David Cheskin/AP

 

 

Market Closes for March 30^th, 2011

North American markets

	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	12,350.60	+71.60 +0.58%
S&P 500	1,328.26	+8.82 +0.67%
NASDAQ	2,776.79	+19.90 +0.72%
TSX	14,083.60	+153.23 +1.10%

International markets

	Close	Change
Nikkei	9,708.79	+249.71 +2.64%
Hang Seng	23,451.40	+391.07 +1.70%
SENSEX	19,290.18	+169.38 +0.89%
FTSE 100	5,948.30	+16.13 +0.27%
CAC 40	4,024.44	+36.64 +0.92%
DAX	7,057.15	+122.71 +1.77%

Bonds

Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.66	101.65	3.29%
Cdn. 30-year bond	105.08	104.90	3.72%
U.S. 10-year bond	101.19	101.04	3.43%
U.S. 30-year bond	104.00	103.11	4.50%

Currency

BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.0294	1.0245
US $	0.9714	0.9761

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7304	0.7271
Euro	1.3691	1.3753

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1,423.50	1,418.30

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	104.26	104.54

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 30 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second day as gains in Canadian home prices and U.S. employment spurred bank shares and gold and natural gas producers advanced.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, advanced 1.8 percent after a report by Teranet Inc. and National Bank of Canada showed a 0.4 percent increase in home prices in January. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Canada’s largest drugmaker, surged 12 percent after making an unsolicited takeover bid for Cephalon Inc. Base metals producer Lundin Mining Corp. rose 4.9 percent after breaking off a deal to be bought by Inmet Mining Corp.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index climbed 153.23 points, or 1.1 percent, to 14,083.58.

“It’s a reduction in concerns about the slowdown in the world economy,” said Robert McWhirter, who oversees C$140 million ($144 million) as a money manager at Selective Asset Management Inc. in Toronto. “Now it appears people are becoming more comfortable moving toward the risk-on strategy.”

The index fell 1.5 percent this month through yesterday, jeopardizing an eight-month streak of gains. Energy companies retreated from a peak they’d reached at the outbreak of the Libyan conflict and insurers and uranium producers dropped after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

The S&P/TSX Financials Index climbed to the highest level since May 2008. ADP Employer Services said U.S. companies hired 201,000 workers in March.

TD, which has more than 1,000 U.S. branches, advanced 1.8 percent to a record C$86.40. National Bank, the country’s sixth- largest lender by assets, rose 2 percent to a record C$78.81 after Chief Executive Officer Louis Vachon told an annual meeting that the company is considering a stock split. Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth-biggest insurer, gained 1.7 percent to C$17.19.

Valeant offered about $5.7 billion in cash for Cephalon, a Frazer, Pennsylvania-based maker of sleep and pain drugs, saying Cephalon had rebuffed its attempts to negotiate a friendly takeover.

The purchase of Cephalon could increase Valeant’s share price by $20, Louise Chen, an analyst at Collins Stewart LLC, said in a note to clients.

Valeant soared 12 percent to a seven-year high of C$48.58.

The shares have jumped 72 percent this year, the most among S&P/TSX stocks.

Gold futures advanced for the first time in five days on demand for alternative investments after Muammar Qaddafi’s forces retook the oil port of Ras Lanuf from rebels.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s biggest gold producer, increased 1.4 percent to C$50.08. Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest gold producer by market value, climbed 1.6 percent to C$48.09. China Gold International Resources Corp., which mines in China, rallied 3.6 percent to C$5.47 before the release of its fourth-quarter financial results.

Energy companies rose on the Libyan fighting and a forecast of below-normal temperatures in the U.S. that led to a gain in natural gas futures.

TransCanada Corp., the owner of the country’s largest pipeline system, advanced 1 percent to C$39.18. Cenovus Energy Inc., the country’s No. 5 energy company by revenue, increased 1.9 percent to C$38.21.

Bankers Petroleum Ltd., which produces oil and gas in Albania, climbed for the first time in seven days, rising 3.7 percent to C$8.12. Jamie Somerville, an analyst at TD, boosted his rating on the shares to “action list buy” from “buy.”

Lundin rallied 4.9 percent to the highest price since 2008, C$7.96, after terminating the agreement with Inmet so it could try to fight off a rival bid from Equinox Mineral Ltd. Lundin adopted a so-called poison pill that would make it more difficult for Equinox to succeed in its hostile offer.

Equinox, which mines copper in Africa, rose for a sixth day, advancing 2.7 percent to C$5.63. Inmet, which produces base and precious metals, surged 6.7 percent to C$66.62.

Westport Innovations Inc., which makes natural-gas engines, jumped 12 percent, the most in nine months, to C$21.10. U.S.

President Barack Obama promoted natural-gas-fueled vehicles in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington today.

Neo Material Technologies Inc., which makes rare-earth and zirconium products, rallied 7.5 percent to a record C$9.30 after increasing 4.6 percent yesterday. The Metal-Pages website said yesterday that rare-earth processors in China have had to stop production due to a supply shortage.

 

US

By Cecile Vannucci

March 30 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, extending the biggest first-quarter rally in 13 years for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as a report showing companies added more workers in March bolstered optimism about the economy.

Cephalon Inc. surged 28 percent for the biggest jump in the S&P 500 after Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. offered to buy the maker of sleep and pain drugs. Visa Inc. climbed 2.8 percent on speculation that curbs on debit-card fees will be delayed or modified. AT&T Inc. rallied as its chief executive officer pitched the company’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA as a way to boost network capacity and improve service.

The S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent to 1,328.26 at 4 p.m. in New York and is up 5.6 percent for the first quarter, which ends tomorrow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 71.60 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,350.61 and has rallied 6.7 percent so far this year. The Russell 2000 Index of smaller stocks rose

1.3 percent to 840.28, the highest level since October 2007.

“Given the beginning of a strong cyclical recovery in the U.S. and a tougher environment in many of these other international markets, it seems to us like a good place for investors to be,” said Connor Browne, who oversees about $5 billion as co-manager of the Thornburg Value Fund at Thornburg Investment Management Inc. in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “We’re positively inclined toward valuations and fundamentals for the U.S. market.”

The S&P 500 is poised to complete a third straight quarterly advance and is headed for its biggest gain in the January-March period since 1998, when the index surged 14 percent. The benchmark gauge of U.S. stocks is trading for about

13.7 times its companies’ estimated operating earnings, compared with an average multiple of 18.1 times reported profits over the last decade, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

A report from ADP Employer Services today showed companies hired 201,000 workers in March, marking the third time in four months that the nation added more than 200,000 jobs. A Labor Department report on April 1 may show total U.S. non-farm payrolls rose 190,000 in March and the unemployment rate held at 8.9 percent, economists predicted. The jobless rate fell below 9 percent in February for the first time in 22 months.

“There’s certainly some positive expectations for the jobs numbers this Friday,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc. in Los Angeles. “The expectation is that the U.S. economy is going to remain strong and the equity markets are going to continue higher,” he said.

Cephalon advanced 28 percent to $75.44 after Valeant, Canada’s biggest drug maker, offered to buy the Frazer, Pennsylvania-based company for $73 a share in cash. The offer is valued at about $5.7 billion. Valeant rose 13 percent to $50.08.

Forest Laboratories Inc., another drugmaker, climbed 4.3 percent to $32.48.

Visa, the world’s biggest payments network, gained 2.8 percent to $74.23 after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday the central bank wouldn’t meet an April 21 deadline to come up with a final rule on debit-card transaction fees. The cap, mandated by the Dodd-Frank law that overhauled the financial industry last year, must be in place by July 21.

MasterCard Inc., the world’s second-biggest payments network, rose 0.8 percent to $253.66. AT&T Inc. advanced 2.2 percent, the biggest increase in the Dow, to $30.71. CEO Randall Stephenson today said the acquisition of Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA would boost network capacity and improve service for devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone. The executive spoke at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Apple fell 0.7 percent to $348.63.

PPG Industries Inc. gained 5.9 percent to $95.93, its highest price since at least 1980. The world’s second-biggest paint maker forecast first-quarter profit of at least $1.30 a share, beating the average analyst estimate of $1.12.

Salesforce.com rose 5.6 percent to $134.49 after the largest supplier of customer-management software agreed to buy Radian6 Technologies Inc. for about $340 million in cash and stock to add software that lets companies keep abreast of the social Web.

BlackRock surged 6.6 percent to $198.84. The company will replace Genzyme Corp. in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on April 1, S&P said in a statement. Separately, Citigroup Inc. added the shares to its “top picks” list. Genzyme, which is being removed from the index because France’s Sanofi-Aventis SA is buying the company, dropped less than 0.1 percent to $76.01.

Coca-Cola Co. climbed 0.5 percent to $66.04 as the company said its bottled-water plants in Japan are operating 24 hours a day to meet increased demand because of concern that radiation discharges from the country’s stricken nuclear power plant have contaminated tap water.

Lennar Corp. slumped 4.2 percent to $18.27 for the biggest decline in the S&P 500. Stephen East at Ticonderoga Securities LLC cut the homebuilder to “neutral” from “buy.”

Nvidia Corp. slid 3.8 percent, the second-biggest drop in the S&P 500, to $18.45. ThinkEquity LLC analyst Krishna Shankar lowered his price target for the maker of three-dimensional graphics processors to $18 from $24.

Ameron International Corp. lost 6.6 percent to $69.82 after the maker of fiberglass pipes posted a $4.3 million loss in its fiscal first quarter ended Feb. 27 as poor weather hurt sales.

The S&P 500 usually climbs further following first-quarter gains similar to this year’s, according to Birinyi Associates Inc. The index rises about 7.1 percent in the final three quarters of years following January-March gains of 5 percent to 7 percent, Birinyi data dating back to 1928 show.

The U.S. stock market is about to begin one of the most- bullish months of the year, according to a March 28 note by Bespoke Investment Group, a Harrison, New York-based research company. The Dow has averaged an April gain of 4.2 percent over the past five years, the note said. April has been the best performing month for the past 50 years, it also said.

“People remain very bullish,” said Wedbush Securities’ James. “It’s been one of the strongest first quarters we’ve had” in more than 10 years. “People want to make sure that they show enough long positions in their portfolios going into the end of the quarter tomorrow.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone. Be magnificent!

 

A mind that is burdened with the past is a sorrowful mind.

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

 

As ever,

Carolann

Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.

-Sean O’Casey, 1880-1964

Dear Friends,

Noteworthy:  On this day, March 29^th, 1999, the Dow Jones topped 10,000 for the first time!

This time tomorrow what will we see
Field full of houses, endless rows of crowded streets
I don’t where I’m going, I don’t want to see
I feel the world below me looking up at me
Leave the sun behind me, and watch the clouds as they sadly pass me by…
-The Kinks, This Time Tomorrow

 

photo of the day

March 29, 2011

A sparrow pecks a cherry blossom at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan.        Lee Jin-man/AP

Market Closes for March 29^th, 2011

 

North American markets

	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	12,297.00	+81.13  +0.67%	+6.06%
S&P 500	1,319.44	+9.25  +0.71%	+4.91%
NASDAQ	2,756.89	+26.21  +0.96%	+3.92%
TSX	13,930.30	+37.62  +0.27%	+3.34%

International markets

	Close	Change
Nikkei	9,459.08	-19.45  -0.21%
Hang Seng	23,060.40	-7.83  -0.03%
SENSEX	19,120.80	+177.66  +0.94%
FTSE 100	5,932.17	+27.68  +0.47%
CAC 40	3,987.80	+10.85  +0.27%
DAX	6,934.44	-4.19  -0.06%

Bonds

Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.65	101.80	3.29%
Cdn. 30-year bond	104.90	105.25	3.73%
U.S. 10-year bond	101.04	101.20	3.49%
U.S. 30-year bond	103.11	104.08	4.54%

Currency

BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.0245	1.0248
US $	0.9761	0.9758

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7271	0.7266
Euro	1.3753	1.3763

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1,418.30	1,421.40

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	104.54	103.80

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 29 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, led by banks and energy shares, as investors took advantage of lower prices after the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell near its average level over the past 50 days.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country’s second-largest bank, gained 1 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Canada’s second-biggest energy company by market value, advanced 1.6 percent as crude futures climbed after three days of losses.

Diamond producer Harry Winston Diamond Corp. rallied 4.5 percent after Bank of Montreal raised its rating on the shares.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index increased 37.62 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,930.35. The index had fallen as much as 0.4 percent to 13,843.39, approaching the 50-day moving average of 13,811.74.

“There’s a lot of stranded capital that missed most of the rally from the beginning of September that was looking to get in on any pullback,” said Bob Decker, who helps oversee C$5.5 billion ($5.6 billion) as a money manager at Aurion Capital Management in Toronto. “There’s a good technical underpinning given the demand for equities.”

The index had fallen 1.7 percent this month through yesterday after eight-straight months of gains. Uranium producers and insurers dropped after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and energy producers declined from a 30-month high reached at the outbreak of the war in Libya.

An index in a healthy stock market should bounce off moving averages, according to technical analysts, who study charts of trading patterns and prices to predict changes in a security, commodity, currency or index.

The S&P/TSX Banks Index rose for the first time in four days. TD gained 1 percent to C$84.84. Bank of Montreal, Canada’s fourth-largest lender by assets, advanced 0.6 percent to C$62.43. National Bank of Canada, the No. 6 bank in the country, increased 1.4 percent to C$77.30.

Oil producers climbed as crude rose 0.8 percent in New York, extending its 12-month rally to 28 percent. Canadian Natural gained 1.6 percent to C$47.58. Imperial Oil Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by revenue, advanced 2.3 percent to C$50.18. Enbridge Inc., Canada’s biggest pipeline company, increased 0.8 percent to C$59.26.

Harry Winston climbed 4.5 percent to a nine-month high of C$14.79 after Edward Sterck, an analyst at BMO, raised his rating on the shares to “outperform” from “market perform.”

In a note to clients, Sterck cited “a robust outlook for rough diamonds and the luxury goods sectors.”

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc., which calls itself the world’s largest industrial auctioneer, rallied 4.9 percent to a 16-month high of C$26.76 after Ben Cherniavsky, an analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc., boosted his rating on the stock to “outperform” from “market perform.”

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. gained 1.9 percent to C$55.65 in Toronto Stock Exchange trading after sinking 13 percent in the previous two days.

Production of Apple Inc.’s iPhones may suffer from parts shortages related to the Japanese earthquake, Andy Hargreaves, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities Inc., said in a research note. Office Depot Inc. said it will begin selling RIM’s Playbook tablet on April 19.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, advanced 0.8 percent to C$55.70 as wheat futures climbed on speculation dry weather in the central U.S. will limit crop yields.

Producers of rare earth elements rallied after the Metal- Pages website reported rare-earth processors in China have had to stop production due to a supply shortage.

Rare Element Resources Ltd., which is developing a rare- earth-elements project in Wyoming, soared 11 percent to C$13.08.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc., which explores for rare earths in Canada, surged 11 percent to C$7.86. Neo Material Technologies Inc., which makes rare-earth and zirconium products, increased 5.1 percent in Toronto Stock Exchange trading to C$8.69.

Yoga-wear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. increased 3.3 percent to C$86.87, adding to a record share price, after announcing a two-for-one stock split.

US

By Inyoung Hwang and Cecile Vannucci

March 29 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a three-week high, as Home Depot Inc. drove consumer companies higher and energy shares rose amid speculation production will increase in the Middle East.

Home Depot rose 2.9 percent, the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer sold $2 billion in bonds to help finance buybacks.

Rowan Cos. and Schlumberger Ltd. rallied more than 4.4 percent as oil gained 0.8 percent. AK Steel Holding Corp. gained 5.2 percent as SAC Capital Advisors LP reported a stake. Apollo Group Inc., owner of the biggest U.S. for-profit college, fell 4.3 percent following lower enrollment.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent to 1,319.44 at 4 p.m. in New York. It rebounded after falling to 1,305.26, compared with yesterday’s 50-day average of 1,306.11, a bullish sign to some traders. The Dow gained 81.13 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,279.01, three days before a U.S. government report forecast to show non-farm payrolls increased by 190,000 in March.

“It’s hard not to want to be a part of this market when there’s clear economic momentum being driven by the jobs market,” said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Minneapolis-based Wells Capital Management, which oversees about $340 billion. “Any other week, these downgrades of Greece and Portugal would knock the market down.”

The S&P 500 fell below 1,306.11 — its 50-day average as of yesterday’s close — at least four times today, and rebounded within three minutes each time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The benchmark measure of U.S. shares closed at a 32- month high of 1,343.01 on Feb. 18.

“There are a lot of technical factors also playing out,” Paulsen said. “You’re bowling through the 50-day moving average and zeroing in on a run at whether we’ll get to that 1,345 level” on the S&P 500, he said.

The S&P 500 fell as much as 0.4 percent earlier after S&P reduced Portugal and Greece’s debt ratings, bolstering speculation Europe’s debt crisis will hamper the global economy.

Portugal’s sovereign credit ratings were cut to the lowest investment grade of BBB- and Greece was shifted to BB- at S&P, which said more reductions are possible.

“The market is not surprised by the Portugal and Greece cuts,” said Liam Dalton, president of Axiom Capital Management Inc. in New York, which oversees $1.2 billion. “It’s really more a factor of the market having a sharp move upward and consolidating those gains rather than reacting in a harsh way to the news of Portugal and Spain.”

Home Depot rose 2.9 percent to $37.70 after it sold $2 billion of 10- and 30-year bonds. The Atlanta-based company will use proceeds to replace $1 billion of 5.2 percent notes issued in 2006 that matured March 1 and to buy its own stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Energy companies in the S&P advanced 1 percent for the second-biggest gain as a group. Baker Hughes Inc. Chief Executive Officer Chad Deaton said Saudi Arabia will deploy more drilling rigs, boosting its count by 28 percent to 118.

Rowan, the U.S. oil and natural-gas driller that also builds rigs, gained 5.2 percent, the biggest increase in the S&P 500, to $43.46. Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield contractor, rallied 4.4 percent to $94.36. Baker Hughes, the world’s third-largest oilfield services provider, rose 0.5 percent to $74.16.

Crude for May delivery gained 81 cents to settle at $104.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil has risen 28 percent in the past year.

AK Steel rallied 5.2 percent to $16.42, the second-biggest gain in the S&P 500. SAC Capital, the hedge fund run by Steven A. Cohen, reported a 4.8 percent stake in the third-largest U.S. steelmaker by sales.

Apollo Group plunged 4.3 percent to $40.55 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500. New student enrollment at the University of Phoenix fell 45 percent, compared with the average analyst estimate that called for a 42 percent drop. An index of 13 for- profit education companies in the U.S. tumbled 1.5 percent.

Amazon climbed 3.1 percent to $174.62. It joined the ranks of music-streaming services today by unveiling Cloud Player, allowing users to buy tracks, store them on the company’s servers and play them on computers and Android smartphones.

Apple gained 0.2 percent to $350.96 and Google rose 1.1 percent to $581.73.

Molycorp Inc., the owner of the world’s largest rare-earth deposit outside China, jumped 7.5 percent to $59.65. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its share-price estimate to $74 a share from $66, saying a recent increase in domestic rare-earth prices in China point to a healthier market than previously thought.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., the owner of the St. Regis and W hotel brands, gained 3.9 percent to $57.51 after sliding 5.7 percent yesterday. Chief Executive Officer Frits van Paasschen today said at a JPMorgan Chase & Co. conference in Las Vegas the company is seeing strong travel demand, a day after competitor Marriott International Inc. warned of weakness in North America.

Sprint Nextel Corp. fell 3.4 percent to $4.62 for the third-biggest drop in the S&P. AT&T Inc.’s planned $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA “still looks doable,” Stifel Nicolaus & Co. said in a note to clients.  Sprint, the third-largest U.S. wireless provider, said this week that the transaction will damage industry competition and called on the government to block it. AT&T, the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier, rose 2.4 percent to $30.05.

Lennar Corp., the third-biggest U.S. homebuilder, tumbled 3.4 percent, the second-biggest drop in the S&P 500, to $19.07 after the Miami-based company posted a 13 percent decline in consolidated orders during the first quarter. That missed the average 2 percent increase expected by analysts, according to Deutsche Bank AG, which estimated a 9 percent drop.

“The market is resilient because investors are realizing that stocks are the more compelling game in town after we’ve moved into a more consistent growth phase in the economy,” said Michael Gibbs, the Memphis, Tennessee-based chief equity strategist at Morgan Keegan Inc., which manages $80 billion.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone. Be magnificent!

 

Life is like a garden.  Quite naturally, leaves wither and flowers fade.

Only if we clear the decay of the past

then and there can we really enjoy the beauty of the new leaves and flowers.

Likewise, we must clear the murkiness of past bad experiences from our minds.

Life is remembrance in forgetfulness.

Forgive what ought to be forgiven; forget what ought to be forgotten.

Let us embrace life with renewed vigor…

We should be able to face every moment of life with renewed expectation, like a freshly blossomed flower.

-Mata Amritanandamayi, 1953-

As ever,

Carolann

 

I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things

I don’t. -W. Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965

Dear Friends,

I love the feedback I receive from all of you….after quoting in my  Newsletter an e-mail I received from one my clients on  Friday’s – who was remembering parachuting down on March 24, 1944 into fire across the Rhine, eventually successfully overwhelming the 2^nd Parachute Corps of the 1^st German Parachute Army, I received this e-mail from another client on Friday night:

Hi Carolann,

Please pass on to your client who jumped on 25 March 1944 the thanks of my brother, myself, and our parents, both of whom were liberated by the Canadians in the Netherlands, my father in fall 1944 in Tiel, and my mother at long last in Amsterdam in early May 1945.

The populations were all on the brink of starvation north of the Dutch rivers due to the Allied blockade of supplies to the occupying German force.

We’ve been there for the liberation parades (typically held on May 5th) and remembrance day (May 4th), and we attend Remembrance Day every year here in the fall.  We always bring our kids, who are now 12 and 9.  They really, really get it.

 

Sage advice in today’s Globe & Mail:  Don’t cut back on sleep

As the demands of life keep rising, one of the first steps we take is to cut back on sleep.  Perhaps it’s just for a few days or a week, when overly pressured.  But often it’s a recurring practice, one that Tony Schwartz, an expert on personal energy, frowns upon.

“We continue to live by a remarkably durable myth:  Sleeping one hour less will give us one more hour of productivity.  In reality, the research suggests that even small amounts of sleep deprivation take a significant toll on our health, our mood, our cognitive capacity and our productivity,” he writes on the Energy Project blog.

So how much sleep do we need?  He notes that research finds that when people are in environments without windows and clocks and told to sleep when they are tired, 95 % sleep between seven and eight hours of every 24 hours….He stresses that great performers sleep even more than the average.  In a famous study of violinists by Anders Ericcson, the top performers slept an average of 8.5 hours out of every 24, including a 20- to 30- minute nap in mid-afternoon.

So sleep more, perchance to improve your productivity.

We went to the Jackson Browne concert on Friday night – and it was amazing.  It was the beginning of his cross Canada tour, so if you are able to get tickets as he treads across the country, do get them, you will not be disappointed.  He plays solo – no band.

photos of the day

March 28, 2011

The Three Mile Island nuclear power generating station in Middletown, Pa. continues to generate electric power with the Unit 1 reactor. TMI was the scene of the March 28^th, 1979 meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor the worst nuclear power plant disaster in the United states. Bradley C Bower/AP

 

 

 

 

An religious offering of food and alcoholic drinks placed on a mat with chopsticks and glasses sits on the bank of the partially frozen Songhua River in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province. David Gray/Reuters

 

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 28 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most in 12 days, led by producers of energy and precious metals, as oil and gold dropped after Libyan rebels recaptured territory from Muammar Qaddafi’s forces.

Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-largest gold producer, declined 3.5 percent as the metal retreated for a third day.

Vector Aerospace Corp., which repairs helicopters and engines, surged 13 percent after agreeing to be bought by European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s biggest oil and gas producer, slipped 1.8 percent as crude futures fell the most in nine days.

“The Libyan situation is becoming more clear with the coalition forces assisting the rebel side,” said Irwin Michael, who helps manage C$1 billion ($1 billion) as a money manager at ABC Group of Funds in Toronto. “There’s less concern of there being a bottleneck with oil supply.”

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index lost 146.66 points, or 1 percent, to 13,892.73.

The index decreased 0.7 percent this month through March 25, led by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. and uranium producer Cameco Corp., as RIM missed analysts’ earnings estimates and the Japanese nuclear crisis led to a plunge in uranium prices. The S&P/TSX has advanced eight straight months.

The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB index of commodities fell for the first time in nine days today. A U.S. Commerce Department report that consumer spending increased more in February than most economists had forecast weighed on precious- metal prices.

Kinross declined 3.5 percent to C$15.21. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, lost 1.5 percent to C$49.74. Eldorado Gold Corp., which mines in China and Turkey, dropped 3.1 percent to C$15.49.

Energy companies retreated as oil futures fell for a third day. Suncor lost 1.8 percent to C$43.33. Nexen Inc., an oil and gas producer with operations on five continents, slipped 3.1 percent to C$23.61. Crescent Point Energy Corp., which produces oil in western Canada, dropped 3.1 percent, the most since June, to C$46.46.

Oil producer TransGlobe Energy Corp. rallied 5 percent to C$14.30 after buying a concession in Egypt for $60 million.

Uranium producers declined as radiation reached fatal levels outside of Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.

Cameco decreased 4.2 percent to C$29.29. Uranium One Inc., a mining company controlled by Moscow-based ARMZ Uranium Holding, slumped 10 percent to C$3.90. Denison Mines Corp., which produces uranium in the U.S., retreated 6 percent to C$2.51.

Producers of metals used in industry fell as copper dropped on concern Japanese carmakers may have to suspend production in China.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals and coal producer, declined 2.2 percent to C$51.50. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., the country’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, lost 4.2 percent to C$120.60. European Goldfields Ltd., which mines base and precious metals in Greece, tumbled 6.1 percent to C$12.65.

Vector Aerospace soared 13 percent to C$12.83 after accepting EADS’s bid of C$13 a share in cash. Vector Aerospace had jumped 16 percent last week to a record high on speculation of an agreement.

Lumber producers rallied after the U.S. National Association of Realtors said pending sales of existing homes rose 2.1 percent in February.

West Fraser Timber Co., Canada’s largest lumber producer, surged 5.7 percent to C$57.55, the highest in at least 24 years.

Canfor Corp. gained 3.1 percent to a six-year high of C$14.43.

Yoga-wear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. soared 7.8 percent to a record C$83.32 in Toronto Stock Exchange trading.

James Cramer praised the company on his “Mad Money” show on CNBC March 25.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. decreased 2 percent to a five-month low of C$54.64 after losing a round in a legal dispute with Eastman Kodak Co. over patents. The U.S.

International Trade Commission said March 25 it will review a judge’s findings that the BlackBerry and Apple Inc.’s iPhone don’t violate a Kodak imaging-software patent.

 

US

By Cecile Vannucci

March 28 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, erasing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s gain in the final 20 minutes of trading, as Marriott International Inc. led consumer shares lower and concern grew that Japan is failing to contain hazardous materials at its damaged nuclear plant.

Marriott lost 6.3 percent after the largest U.S. hotel chain said revenue growth is being held back by weak North American demand. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. slumped 5.7 percent. EBay Inc. slipped 4.3 percent after announcing a $2.4 billion takeover of GSI Commerce Inc. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. fell 5.7 percent as it sold preferred stock.

RadioShack Corp. rallied 5 percent, the most in the S&P 500, after saying it will sell Apple Inc.’s iPad 2 starting tomorrow.

The S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent to 1,310.19 at 4 p.m. in New York after climbing as much as 0.5 percent earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 22.71 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,197.88. Trading volume on U.S. exchanges totaled 5.96 billion shares, the lowest since Dec. 31.

“I’d expect the market would struggle more, particularly with unknowns, not only in Japan, but all across the Mideast and north Africa,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co., which oversees $85 billion. “There’s a lot of uncertainty out there.”

Equities rallied earlier, sending the Dow average 52.33 points higher, after consumer spending and sales of existing homes topped projections. Stock indexes dropped as radiation levels that can prove fatal were detected outside reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant.

Consumer spending increased 0.7 percent, the most since October, to beat the 0.5 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, Commerce Department figures showed.

Incomes rose 0.3 percent, less than projected. The index of pending home resales increased 2.1 percent after a 2.8 percent drop the prior month, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Policy makers should review whether to complete a second round of asset purchases scheduled to end in June because of strong U.S. economic data, Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said to reporters in Marseille, France, on March 26.

Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser and Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker have also urged a review of the stimulus measures in light of a strengthening economy and concern over future inflation.

U.S. equities fell on concern that Japan is failing to contain hazardous materials at the damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. The discovery of plutonium particles outside the plant north of Tokyo means there has been degradation of the nuclear fuel in at least one of the reactors, International Atomic Energy Agency Deputy Director General of Safety Denis Flory said today at a press briefing in Vienna.

Nine out of 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 fell, led by an index of companies dependent on discretionary spending by consumers, which slid 1.1 percent.

Marriott tumbled 6.3 percent to $35.30 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500. The company expects first-quarter revenue per available room to rise about 7 percent, at the low end of the company’s forecast of 7 percent to 9 percent, as North American demand has been below expectations, the hotel chain said.

Starwood, the owner of the St. Regis and W hotel brands, slid 5.7 percent to $55.37.

EBay fell 4.3 percent to $30.34 after the owner of the largest e-commerce market agreed to buy GSI for about $2.4 billion to add services that help retailers market and distribute wares. GSI investors will get $29.25 a share in cash, San Jose, California-based EBay said today in a statement.

Goodyear Tire lost 5.7 percent to $14.57 after the largest U.S. tiremaker said it started a public offering of $435 million of mandatory convertible preferred stock.

RadioShack surged 5 percent to $15.01. The electronics retailer will start selling Apple Inc.’s iPad2 tablet computer tomorrow at 500 locations. Stifel Nicolaus raised the Fort Worth, Texas-company to a “buy” from a “hold” with a forecast price of $21.

Some energy companies surged, as Bank of America Corp. said oilfield activity will accelerate in Saudi Arabia.

“A rapid increase in Middle East activity is imminent,” according to a Bank of America note today, which “could cause pricing power to shift to oil service companies.”

Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s largest oilfield contractor, climbed 4.1 percent to $90.43 for the second-biggest gain in the S&P 500. The Houston-based company was awarded $100 million in contracts in Iraq. The impact from disruptions from Middle East as well as weather will be 8 cents a share to 10 cents a share, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Gould said at Howard Weil Inc.’s energy conference in New Orleans.

Halliburton Co., the world’s second-largest oilfield- services provider, jumped 4 percent to $47.90 for the third- largest increase in the S&P 500. Baker Hughes Inc. climbed 3.8 percent to $73.76.

Eastman Kodak Co. jumped 5.3 percent to $3.58 after the U.S. International Trade Commission said it will review a judge’s findings from January that Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry don’t violate Kodak’s patent on a way to preview digital images using less processing power and storage space. The victory may add more than $1 billion in revenue from royalty payments, Kodak Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said in an interview.

AT&T Inc. rose 1.8 percent to $29.36 to help lead telephone companies in the S&P 500 to a 1.4 percent advance, the only gain among 10 groups. Robert Baird raised the shares to “outperform” from “neutral.” AT&T may rally as much as 15 percent in the next year if the acquisition of T-Mobile USA is approved, Barron’s reported. The company plans to expand 4G wireless to cover 95 percent of the U.S., up from 80 percent, after the proposed $39 billion takeover, Barron’s reported.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

You are never alone because you are full of all the memories, all the conditioning,

all the mutterings of yesterday; your mind is never clear of all the rubbish it has accumulated.

To be alone, you must die to the past.

When you are alone, totally alone, not belonging to any family, any nation, any culture,

any particular continent, there is that sense of being an outsider.

The man who is completely alone in this way is innocent and it is this innocence that frees the mind from sorrow.

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

 

One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. -Will Durant, 1885-1981

 

Dear Friends,

It’s official – the Harper government has fallen.  The minority government of Stephen Harper has been defeated in a non-confidence vote. MPs voted 156-145 in favour of a Liberal motion today citing Stephen Harper’s minority Tories for contempt of Parliament and expressing non-confidence in the government.  The markets took it in stride – they actually gained and the dollar hardly noticed.

I had an e-mail from a client today describing another type of fall that took place on this day in 1944 – falling from a parachute.  He wrote:

I’m half drunk Carolann, as I am celebrating day two of, March 25/44 when we parachuted into withering fire across the Rhine at 10:00 hrs .and our plane was hit and on fire and I survived  being the second last of 20 to leave “Red Dog” (the Plane’s name). The Jump Master that followed me did not survive.

Even though my jump smock was penetrated by small arms fire I landed safely!.  And we succeeded in overwhelming the 2nd Parachute Corps of the 1st German Parachute Army.

Sorry …. Carolann, but today is a big thing for me, and you seemed so understanding in the past!.

It’s CORUBA rum BTW ha ha

Despite me, have a wonderful day

XOXO

This man is one of my heroes – he is one of the most interesting and interested (in everything in the world) persons I’ve ever met.  He and his wife have been my clients for well over twenty years and he often sends me the most wonderful photos of this beautiful universe and references to interesting and informative web-sites he has found.

I’m humbled when I think of the courage and  sacrifices that are made by such valiant men and women so the world will be a better place, and just maybe one day we will have a world at peace.

A lighter look at the current news:

Jon Stewart:

We’re at war? Again? Don’t we already have two? Wars aren’t like kids, where you don’t have to worry about the youngest one because the other two will take care of it.

Conan:

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, I think he’s becoming unhinged…(He) gave a rambling speech that lasted nearly three hours….So at least we now know where all of Charlie Sheen’s coke went.

David Letterman:

How about that Al Qaeda?  They’re publishing a new magazine for women.  Isn’t that crazy?  They already have one for men.  It’s called Car Bomb and Driver.

There are reports that Gadhafi’s son plagiarized his doctoral thesis…Boy, you think you know somebody, then…it’s just like a shot to the solar plexus.

Jay Leno:

They said on the news today 10,000 to 15,000 people each day are coming across the border from Libya into Egypt.  Or, as we call it in California, a “trickle.”

Here’s some good news.  Life expectancy in the U.S. has risen to a new record of 78.2 years.  The bad news?  The average age a person has to work to until they retire is 78.3 years.

photos of the day March 25, 2011

A young girl passes the time with her teddy bear at a center for evacuees fleeing leaked radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear facilities in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Experts are worried that anxiety caused by the fear of radiation may cause serious health problems for residents in the months and years ahead.

Wally Santana/AP

The Cambridge University rowing crew practice on the River Thames in Hammersmith, west London. The rowing crews from Oxford and Cambridge will compete in the 152nd Boat Race between the two universities.

Toby Melville/Reuters

 

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 25 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose to a second straight weekly gain as agriculture companies advanced and energy shares rallied along with natural gas prices.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, increased 3 percent after the U.S. Agriculture Department said exporters sold 1.25 million metric tons of corn to unknown buyers. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. plunged 11 percent after forecasting a smaller profit than most analysts had estimated. Encana Corp., Canada’s largest natural gas producer, climbed 1.8 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 10.02 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,039.39. The index gained 1.8 percent this week, the most since Feb. 18.

“People are comfortable taking long positions again,” said Stephen Gauthier, who helps oversee C$600 million ($611 million) as a money manager at Fin-XO Securities in Montreal.

“Ten days ago, the situation in Libya seemed out of control and the situation in Japan seemed out of control.”

The S&P/TSX had slipped 0.8 percent this month through yesterday, reflecting the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the escalation of the Libyan civil war. The equity benchmark hasn’t had a monthly decline since June.

Fertilizer producers rallied. Wheat may rise as dry weather in the U.S. threatens crops, said Mark Schultz, chief analyst at Northstar Commodity Investment Co. in Minneapolis.

Potash Corp. increased 3 percent to C$56.12. Agrium Inc., Canada’s second-largest fertilizer producer, gained 0.9 percent to C$87.77. Viterra Inc., Canada’s biggest grain handler, rallied 3.4 percent to C$11.75.

S&P/TSX energy companies advanced for the first time in four days as natural gas climbed to a seven-week high on forecasts for unseasonably cold weather in the eastern U.S.

Encana increased 1.8 percent to an eight-month high of C$34.04. Talisman Energy Inc., an oil and gas producer with operations in North America, the North Sea and Indonesia, rose 2.6 percent to C$23.80. Enbridge Inc., the country’s largest pipeline company, climbed 1.5 percent to a record C$59.70.

RIM sank 11 percent in Toronto Stock Exchange trading, the most in nine months, to C$55.78. The company forecast first- quarter earnings of $1.47 a share to $1.55 a share, excluding certain items. Analysts had estimated the company would earn $1.66 a share.

“Time is not on RIM’s side,” Brian Modoff, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said in a note to clients. “We think this quarter was just a taste of what lies in store for the company.”

Directory publisher Yellow Media Inc. increased 4 percent to C$5.50 after agreeing to sell its Trader Corp. unit to Apax Partners for C$745 million. Trader Corp. publishes about 160 publications and 22 websites.

Imax Corp., the maker of giant-screen movie-projection systems, climbed 6.6 percent to C$31.15 after Aravinda Galappatthige, an analyst at Canaccord Financial Inc., raised his rating on the shares to “buy” from “hold.” Imax soared 12 percent to a 10-year high yesterday after announcing plans to open 75 new theaters in China.

 

US

By Rita Nazareth and Lu Wang

March 25 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its biggest weekly rally since February, after Oracle Corp.’s profit forecast beat analyst estimates and the rate of economic growth was revised higher.

Oracle, the world’s top supplier of database software, climbed 1.6 percent. U.S. shares of Accenture Plc, the world’s second-largest technology-consulting firm, rallied 4.5 percent after its sales forecast beat analyst’s projections. Bristol- Myers Squibb Co. advanced 3.3 percent after the pharmaceutical company won U.S. approval a melanoma drug.

The S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent to 1,313.80 at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge climbed 2.7 percent this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 50.03 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,220.59 today. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, fell 0.5 percent to 17.91, extending its retreat since March 16 to 39 percent.

“Corporations are making money amid this pace of economic growth,” said Kevin Caron, a market strategist in Florham Park, New Jersey, at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which has about $90 billion in client assets. “We saw a solid GDP number. The fact that Oracle reported a decent forecast would be consistent with that trend. As long as the data is supporting the recovery, the S&P 500 can get to $100 a share of earnings over the next year and a half. That means the index rising to 1,500.”

U.S. stocks rose yesterday, recouping losses that followed Japan’s March 11 earthquake, as corporate profits beat estimates and a government report showed a decline in jobless claims. The S&P 500 has advanced 4.5 percent in 2011, extending last year’s 13 percent rally, amid government stimulus measures and an eighth straight quarter of higher-than-estimated earnings.

The U.S. economy grew at a 3.1 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, led by a jump in consumer spending that will be hard to match early in the year as energy prices surge. The revised increase in gross domestic product compares with a 2.8 percent estimate issued last month, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington.

Stocks rose even as the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment decreased to 67.5 from 77.5 in February. The preliminary estimate issued earlier this month was 68.2. The median forecast of 67 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a reading of 68.

European Union leaders at a two-day meeting in Brussels agreed to cut the startup capital for the future euro emergency aid mechanism, while Portugal continued to rule out a rescue after the parliament’s rejection of budget cuts led Prime Minister Jose Socrates to offer to quit.

A bailout may total as much as 70 billion euros ($99 billion), two European officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as credit-rating cuts threatened to deepen Portugal’s debt woes.

“The market has digested a lot of uncertainties in the past couple of weeks, with the tragedy in Japan and the unrest in Libya,” said Charles Stamey, who helps manage $42 billion at Manning & Napier Advisors Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. “I certainly think the market is looking for some good news and this is a bit of it,” he said of Oracle’s forecast.

Oracle climbed 1.6 percent to $32.64 after the company late yesterday forecast profit excluding acquisition costs and some other expenses of 69 cents to 73 cents this quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of 66 cents. Earnings on that basis were 54 cents a share in the period that ended Feb. 28, also exceeding analysts’ projections.

Accenture added 4.5 percent to $54.29. Third-quarter net revenue, or sales before reimbursements, will grow to a range of $6.3 billion to $6.5 billion, the Dublin-based company said. The average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey was $6.08 billion. The company also increased forecasts for full-year net revenue growth to a range of 11 percent to 14 percent, from 8 percent to 11 percent, and for earnings per share to $3.22 to $3.30, from $3.08 to $3.16.

“Very robust results from enterprise bellwethers Oracle and Accenture will reassure people that the enterprise capex cycle remains a powerful tailwind,” London-based analysts Jonathan Tseng and Andrew Griffin at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research wrote in a report to clients.

Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 3.3 percent to $27.29. The pharmaceutical company won U.S. approval for ipilimumab, the first drug in a new family of medicines to treat advanced melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.

Smithfield Foods Inc. gained 2 percent to $24.44. The world’s biggest pork processor said it sees no “backup” in Japanese orders and that the nation is shifting to fresh pork, according to a Barclays Plc presentation.

Research In Motion Ltd. slumped 11 percent to $56.89 after the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone forecast first-quarter revenue and profit that trailed estimates. Earnings will be $1.47 to $1.55 a share as the company spends more on research and steps up marketing for its PlayBook tablet and new smartphones, RIM said late yesterday. Analysts had predicted profit of $1.66 on average, excluding some costs.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.  Be magnificent!

If you are in the moment, you are in the infinite. -Swami Prajnanpad,1891-1974

As ever,

Carolann

The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience. -Harper Lee, 1926-

Dear Friends,

Another thought on spring…

Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain,

Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;

Love lives again, that with the dead has been:

Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

– J.M.C. Crum

photos of the day

March 24, 2011

People cross Tai Ping Bridge as they participate in the ‘bridge-treading’ event in

Jushui town of Mianyang, Sichuan province, China. Participants throw old clothes and coins from the 200-year-old bridge into the water during the traditional annual event to seek happiness and health. Reuters

 

 

With the Washington Monument in the background, cherry blossom trees began to bloom despite cold temperatures in Washington.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

 

 

 

 

Members of The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ride along The Mall in central London. Toby Melville/Reuters

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 24 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks dropped as energy shares fell on a U.K. plan to raise oil-extraction taxes and a smaller decline in U.S. natural gas inventories than most analysts had forecast, while gold retreated from a record high.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second- largest energy company by market value, slipped 1.2 percent.

Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-biggest gold producer by market value, lost 2.4 percent. Imax Corp., the maker of giant- screen movie-projection systems, advanced 12 percent on plans to open 75 more theaters in China.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index decreased 57.81 points, or 0.4 percent, to 14,029.37.

“Why it’s put a little bit of pressure on energy companies is you can see some government copycat legislation,” said Youssef Zohny, who helps oversee about C$50 million ($51 million) as a money manager at Van Arbor Asset Management Ltd. in Vancouver. “Governments around the world are essentially looking to raise revenue. There’s some concern globally that commodity producers are being targeted.”

The S&P/TSX gained 4.2 percent from March 16 to yesterday, narrowing its monthly decline to 0.4 percent, as oil and precious-metal prices rebounded. The equity benchmark gauge has not had a monthly drop since June.

Oil and gas producers dropped a day after U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne raised the supplementary charge on North Sea oil profits to 32 percent from 20 percent. Greg Pardy, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, cut his share-price estimates for Canadian Natural and Nexen Inc., citing the U.K. tax in a note to clients.

Today, the U.S. Energy Department said natural gas inventories fell by 6 billion cubic feet, compared with the median analyst forecast of 8 billion cubic feet. The fuel slid as much as 2.8 percent.

Canadian Natural declined 1.2 percent to C$47.76. Nexen lost 1.2 percent to C$23.89 after plunging 7.9 percent yesterday. Imperial Oil Ltd., the country’s second-largest oil and gas producer by revenue, decreased 1.4 percent to C$49.28.

Emerge Oil & Gas Inc., which produces oil in western Canada, slumped 9.4 percent to C$3.08 after reporting a 2010 loss that exceeded the average of six analyst estimates by 29 percent, excluding certain items. The shares’ tumble was their biggest in a day since the company began trading in January 2010.

Gold futures retreated for the first time in seven days as technical indicators led traders to sell the precious metal.

Technical analysts study charts of trading patterns and prices to predict changes in a security, commodity, currency or index.

Goldcorp fell 2.4 percent to C$47.65. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, dropped 1.4 percent to C$50.32. Silver reseller Silver Wheaton Corp. declined 3.6 percent to C$42.45, ending a five-day streak of gains.

Diamond producer Harry Winston Diamond Corp. lost 4.2 percent in Toronto Stock Exchange trading to C$14.05 after Kinross Gold Corp. said it sold its 7.1 million Harry Winston shares for about C$100 million ($102 million). Harry Winston had gained 27 percent this year through yesterday.

Imax jumped 12 percent to a 10-year high of C$29.21 after saying it will open 75 more cinemas in China with Wanda Cinema Line Corp. by the end of 2014. In an interview, Imax Chief Executive Officer Richard Gelfond said China will replace the U.S. as its biggest market.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. advanced 2.6 percent to C$62.49 before the release of its fourth-quarter financial results.

“We expect another very solid quarter, with guidance that is much higher than Street estimates,” Tim Long, an analyst at Bank of Montreal, wrote in a note to clients. “Our checks indicate that RIMM is seeing strength in all regions outside North America, despite a lack of new products.”

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, climbed for the first time in five days, increasing 2.9 percent to C$53.39.

Vector Aerospace Corp., which repairs aircraft engines, soared 11 percent to a record C$11.13 after European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. said it is in acquisition talks with the Toronto-based company.

US

By Rita Nazareth and Jennifer A. Johnson

March 24 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index higher for a second day, after corporate profit topped analysts’ estimates and a government report showed a decline in jobless claims.

Micron Technology Inc., the biggest U.S. producer of computer-memory chips, rose 8.4 percent and Linux-software maker Red Hat Inc. surged 18 percent after earnings beat analysts’ estimates. GameStop Corp. jumped 2.9 percent as the largest video-game retailer forecast profit above analyst’s projections.

Amazon.com Inc. gained 3.5 percent after William Blair & Co. raised its rating for the world’s biggest online retailer.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.9 percent to 1,309.66 at 4 p.m. in New York, the highest level in two weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 84.54 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,170.56. The benchmark measure of U.S. stock options completed its biggest six-day drop since November 2008.

“There’s no shortage of cheap stocks,” Leon Cooperman, chairman of hedge fund Omega Advisors Inc. said in an interview today with Bloomberg Television at the Strategas Global Macro Conference in New York. “You have good profits and good economic growth. You have good valuations and conservative posture.”

The S&P 500 has advanced 4.1 percent in 2011, extending last year’s 13 percent rally, amid government stimulus measures and as companies reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates for the eighth straight quarter. The benchmark index is trading at 15.4 times reported earnings, compared with the average ratio of 19.7 at bull-market peaks.

Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, signaling the labor market is mending.

Jobless claims declined by 5,000 to 382,000, Labor Department figures showed, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The total number of people receiving benefits dropped to the lowest level in almost three years.

“The economy is improving and this is a good environment for corporate profits,” said David Kelly, who helps oversee $450 billion as chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds in New York. “The latest numbers suggest an advance in the U.S. economy. Investors are buying the idea that even though there are many headwinds, if you believe the economy will grow, then stocks are cheap.”

Global stocks rose for a sixth day, the longest rally for the MSCI World Index since September, amid speculation the need for European Union bailouts may end with Portugal. European leaders meet in Brussels today after Portugal’s parliament rejected budget-cutting measures, pushing the country closer to needing an EU rescue.

The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, fell 6.1 percent to 18, extending its drop since March 16 to 39 percent. That’s the biggest drop over the same number of days in 28 months. The VIX needed to fall below 17.53 to beat the six-day record set two months after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s September 2008 bankruptcy sent stocks plunging.

Micron Technology jumped 8.4 percent to $11.50. Second- quarter sales and profit beat analysts’ estimates on increasing demand for chips used to store data on mobile phones and tablets. Revenue climbed 15 percent to $2.26 billion in the period that ended March 3. That compared with $2.1 billion, the average of predictions compiled by Bloomberg.

Red Hat gained 18 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $47.26. The largest seller of the Linux operating system posted a profit of 26 cents a share excluding some items, beating the 22 cent average of 22 estimates in a Bloomberg survey, as customers updating data centers to take advantage of cloud computing boosted billings.

GameStop rose 2.9 percent to $21.73. The world’s largest video-game retailer forecast first-quarter profit excluding some items of at least 53 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate of 52 cents in a Bloomberg survey.

Amazon.com added 3.5 percent to $171.10 after being raised to “outperform” from “market perform” at William Blair by equity analyst Mark Miller.

Bank of America Corp. sank 1.3 percent to $13.48. The biggest U.S. lender was cut to “market perform” from “outperform” at FBR Capital Markets. The bank may not have the earnings power to be in compliance with the new capital requirements, analyst Paul Miller said in a note.

Trading in U.S. stocks, which fell to the slowest pace this year, is poised to contract because Citigroup Inc.’s reverse stock split may take out about one-tenth of the volume, according to Birinyi Associates Inc. New York Stock Exchange volume declined to 3.75 billion shares on March 22 and 3.97 billion shares yesterday, the second and the sixth-slowest trading days this year, respectively, Bloomberg data show.

“We won’t be surprised when we read in a few weeks that volume is declining and how this is a negative signal for equities,” Jeffrey Yale Rubin, Birinyi’s director of research, wrote in a note yesterday. “Just be aware that it’s because of a structural change and not a ‘real’ decline in volume.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone. Be magnificent!

To live completely, fully, in the moment is to live with what is, the actual, without any sense of condemnation or justification – then you understand it so totally that you are finished with it. When you see clearly the problem is solved. -Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

 

Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. -Sir Francis Bacon, 1561-1626

Dear Friends,

Of interest in today’s Globe & Mail:

March is International Listening Awareness Month….By some estimates, people only retain about 50 per cent of  what they hear immediately after they hear it, and only 20 per cent beyond that.  Travis Bradberry, author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, offers tips on how to be a better listener:

• Don’t take notes at meetings.  Try watching who’s speaking instead – pay attention to what you miss while you’re usually looking down at your notebook.

• Clear your mind. Focus when you’re talking to others.   Pay attention to what you’re thinking when they’re speaking: if you’re planning out a response rather than listening to them, you need to work on your focus.

• Ask questions or ask for specific examples if you still  want clarification.

• Don’t argue, understand.  Having a tough conversation?  Don’t just plan your rebuttal – really listen, then start with where you agree and move the discussion toward a solution by asking them to help you understand their point.

photos of the day

March 23, 2011

Flowers and a portrait adorn Elizabeth Taylor’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Taylor died early Wednesday. Reed Saxon/AP

 

 

 

 

An advertisement for one of Elizabeth Taylor’s signature fragrances. Her alluring violet eyes are the stuff of Hollywood legend.

PRNewsFoto/File

 

 

A robin is silhouetted against a waning moon as it sits in a tree in Overland Park, Kan.

Charlie Riedel/AP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Cecile Vannucci and Nikolaj Gammeltoft

March 23 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks gained as gold producers advanced after unrest in Libya and the Middle East and Europe’s lingering debt crisis spurred demand for alternative investments.

Barrick Gold Corp. and Goldcorp Inc., the world’s two largest producers of the metal, rose at least 1.1 percent today as gold futures advanced near a record. Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-largest producer, gained 3.5 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 87.18 points, or 0.6 percent, to 14,087.18 in Toronto.

“Commodities are doing well and the real strength today is in the gold producers, which makes sense when you look at everything that’s going on in the world,” said Thomas Caldwell, chairman and chief executive officer of Caldwell Securities Ltd., a C$1 billion ($1 billion) money management firm in Toronto.

The S&P/TSX fell 0.1 percent yesterday for its first decline in four days. It had gained 3.6 percent from March 16 through March 21 for the biggest three-day advance in more than 10 months as raw-material producers in the index rebounded.

Those companies had tumbled 7.8 percent from March 4 to March 16, as some investors sold metals to raise cash following declines in world equity markets.

Gold futures for April delivery rose $10.40, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $1,438 at 1:34 p.m. on the Comex in New York.

Barrick Gold climbed 3.7 percent to C$51.05, while Goldcorp rose 1.1 percent to C$47.64 and Kinross Gold increased 3.5 percent to C$16.09.

Equinox Minerals Ltd., a Perth, Australia-based copper mining company with operations in Africa, surged 6.8 percent to C$5.34. The Globe & Mail reported Chief Executive Officer Craig Williams said Inmet Mining Corp.’s rival bid for Lundin Mining Corp. appears to be “dead.”

Equinox bid C$4.8 billion ($4.9 billion) for Lundin, which rallied 3.8 percent to C$7.38. Inmet, which offered about C$3.2 billion, rose 2 percent to C$64.44.

Mercator Minerals Ltd., a copper and molybdenum producer in Arizona, surged 7.6 percent, the most in the Canadian benchmark, to C$3.83 after two shareholders said they want to reconstitute the board because of its “failings.”

Teck Resources Ltd. declined 0.3 percent to C$51.90 after saying labor disruption and difficult weather conditions have slowed production in the first quarter. The Vancouver-based company cut its 2011 coal sales forecast to between 23.5 million tons and 24.5 million tons because of difficult winter weather conditions, according to a regulatory filing.

Energy companies in the S&P/TSX Index dropped 0.7 percent, the most in the Canadian index as a group, after U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne raised the supplementary tax on North Sea oil profits to 32 percent from 20 percent. Nexen Inc., operator of the Buzzard field in the North Sea, had the biggest decline in the gauge, tumbling 7.9 percent to C$24.19.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, paring yesterday’s drop, as higher metal prices lifted commodity producers and Wells Fargo & Co. said government data showing a record low pace in new-home sales will likely be revised higher.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. rose 5 percent, while Alcoa Inc. added 3 percent, as copper paced gains in commodities amid a surge in stockpile orders for the metal. Walt Disney Co. added 1.9 percent as investors re-elected Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs to the board of the entertainment company. Jabil Circuit Inc. jumped 11 percent for the top gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after the electronics manufacturer’s earnings forecast topped analysts’ estimates.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 1,297.54 at 4 p.m. in New York after slumping as much as 0.8 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 67.39 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,086.02. Crude oil advanced 0.7 percent to $105.75 a barrel.

“Investors are looking for some good news,” said Richard Sichel, who oversees $1.5 billion as chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co. “Earlier today, we had the disappointing home sales data adding up to all the international uncertainties out there.  Later, you have the Wells Fargo statement attributed to turning the market around. What people need to understand is that we can have a pickup in different parts of the economy and housing will fully rebound later. There’s growth in this country and elsewhere. There is economic momentum.”

The S&P 500 fell yesterday, halting a three-day rally, as oil rose amid fighting in Libya and concern grew that Europe won’t find an immediate solution to its debt crisis. Bonds of Europe’s most-indebted countries sank.

The Portuguese parliament today rejected the government’s deficit-cutting plan in a vote that raises the chances of a bailout and which Prime Minister Jose Socrates has said threatens to push the country toward early elections. Lawmakers backed resolutions against the government’s stability and growth program, Jaime Gama, the parliament’s president, said in Lisbon.

Stocks extended losses in the first hour of trading after purchases of new U.S. homes unexpectedly declined in February to the slowest pace on record and prices dropped to the lowest level since December 2003. Sales decreased 16.9 percent to a 250,000 annual pace, figures from the Commerce Department showed. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a gain to a 290,000 rate, according to the median estimate. The median price fell 8.9 percent from the same month in 2010.

A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes added 0.5 percent, erasing an earlier decline of 0.9 percent. Wells Fargo analyst Carl Reichardt said the February home sales data may be revised up and didn’t reflect the market “reality” as bad weather hurt the market. PulteGroup Inc. climbed 3.6 percent to $7.40 after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added the homebuilder’s shares to its “Conviction Buy” list.

“We need to get good reports that remind everyone that the global economy is still doing OK,” said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Minneapolis-based Wells Capital Management, which oversees about $340 billion. “News out of Europe raises concern that their crisis won’t go away anytime soon. In addition, you’ve got the Middle East burning and keeping energy prices elevated.”

A gauge of raw-materials producers gained 1.4 percent, the biggest gain among 10 S&P 500 industries. Freeport added 5 percent to $54.88. Alcoa rallied 3 percent to $16.95.

Copper climbed for a second day in New York as orders to draw metal from inventories jumped the most in 11 months, feeding speculation that demand will outpace supply in 2011.

Canceled warrants, as the orders are known, surged 45 percent, the most since April 21, to 15,525 metric tons, daily London Metal Exchange figures showed today. LME inventories of copper shrank for the first time in six sessions. Prices also gained as figures showed that euro-area industrial orders increased for a fourth month in January.

Walt Disney gained 1.9 percent to $42.24. Investors re- elected Apple’s Jobs to the board of the entertainment company, rejecting the views of proxy advisers who say health issues may impair his ability to serve. Jobs was re-elected with 12 other nominees at the shareholder meeting today in Salt Lake City, with 74 percent of the votes cast backing the group, according to a preliminary count. The Apple executive, absent from the meeting, owns 7.3 percent of Disney and is the largest shareholder.

Jabil Circuit advanced 11 percent to $20.99. The St. Petersburg, Florida-based electronics manufacturer forecast third-quarter earnings excluding some items of at least 55 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate of 53 cents in a Bloomberg survey.

Discover Financial Services rose 5.4 percent to $23.44. The payments network whose stock has outperformed three larger rivals posted record profit and boosted its dividend. Earnings and sales beat the averages of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

AOL Inc. rose 4.7 percent to $19.86. The Internet company that agreed to buy the Huffington Post was raised to a “buy” from “neutral” by UBS AG, which said advertising growth may accelerate in the second half of the year.

Bank of America Corp. fell 1.7 percent to $13.65 after saying the Federal Reserve objected to its planned dividend increase. The lender “will continue to work with the Fed and intends to seek permission for a modest increase in its common dividend for the second half of 2011, through the submission of a revised comprehensive capital plan,” Bank of America said in a regulatory filing.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America is the only U.S. lender among the largest four that didn’t announce a higher payout after the Fed finished a review of the companies’ financial health and capital plans last week. Lenders including Bank of America, which had a 64-cent quarterly payout until 2008, slashed dividends during the financial crisis to conserve capital as loan losses piled up.

Adobe Corp. slumped 3.7 percent to $31.68. The largest maker of graphic-design programs forecast second-quarter profit of 47 to 54 cents a share, missing the 56-cent average of analysts’ projections compiled by Bloomberg.

The benchmark index for U.S. stock options fell for a fifth day, losing 35 percent for the biggest five-day slide since May, and declined below its level before the Japan earthquake as stocks rallied around the world. The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, fell 5.2 percent to 19.17. The index measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500.

“All the signs are that the economy is not only stable, but it’s picking up momentum,” said Dan Veru, chief investment officer at Palisade Capital Management LLC in Fort Lee, New Jersey, which oversees $3.8 billion. “All these problems are going to gradually diminish and that means we’re going to have gradually higher stock prices.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.  Be magnificent!

 

Contemplation is seeing the here and now. -Swami Prajnanpad,1891-1974

 

As ever,

Carolann

One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things. -Henry Miller, 1891-1980

Dear Friends,

Today is the United Nations’ World Day for Water – meant to give us pause to reflect on the importance of this precious resource to our lives.   We are so fortunate to have such abundance and yet our vulnerability was laid bare this week as we watched the nuclear reactors under siege on the Japanese shores of the Pacific Ocean causing inestimable damage.  Today, we learn of a cargo ship which ran aground in the South Atlantic Ocean….the second photo below gives a glimpse of the impact that shipwreck is having.

photos of the day

March 22, 2011

A girl smiles as she carries water from the Ravi river on the outskirts of Lahore. The United Nations’ World Water Day is held on March 22 every year to increase people’s awareness of water’s importance in environment, agriculture, health and trade. Mohsin Raza/Reuters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three oiled rock hopper penguins on the island chain of Tristan da Cunha. Thousands of endangered penguins have been coated with oil after a cargo ship ran aground and broke up on a remote British South Atlantic territory. The shipwreck also threatens the lobster fishery that provides a livelihood to one of the world’s most isolated communities. Trevor Glass/AP

The Elemental World, a Taxonomy

WATER

Nymph Queen, Landscape Queen: maintain the nature temple

Nymphs, Well Nymphs, and Pasture Nymphs: give individuality to a river, lake, meadow; develop their place into a source of blessing and healing

Nixies: enliven rivers, springs, lakes, and marshes

Undines: energize the sea

Watermen: maintain yang pole

Spirits of Balance: look after balance inside Earth’s crust.

~Marko Pogacnik, from Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings: Working with the Intelligence in Nature

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Cecile Vannucci and Nikolaj Gammeltoft

March 22 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for the first time in four days as energy producers retreated and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. declined after forecasting earnings below analyst estimates.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Canada’s second-largest energy company by market value, dropped 0.6 percent as energy shares slipped for the first time in five days. Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. lost 1.7 percent. Canadian Pacific, the country’s second-largest railroad, tumbled 2.8 percent. Auto parts supplier Magna International Inc. fell 1.2 percent after Canada reported a decline in retail sales.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 13.70 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,000 in Toronto.

“What we’re seeing right now is a little bit of pull-back from the last two days,” said Sadiq Adatia, who oversees C$12 billion ($12.2 billion) of assets as Toronto-based chief investment officer at Russell Investments Canada. “We’re due a bit of a pull-back in our economy, and you’re seeing that a in some of the numbers.”

The S&P/TSX gained 3.6 percent from March 16 through yesterday for the biggest three-day advance in more than 10 months, as oil rebounded from its decline following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Energy companies make up 28 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, the most among 10 industries.

Crude rose on speculation Japanese rebuilding efforts will bolster fuel consumption and as unrest spread in the Middle East and North Africa. Oil rose 1.6 percent after climbing as much as 2.2 percent.

A group of energy companies fell 0.3 percent. Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., the largest owner of the Syncrude project, dropped 1.7 percent to C$31.49 after rising 2.6 percent the previous session. Canadian Natural Resources lost 0.6 percent to C$48.44 after jumping 1.9 percent yesterday.

Canadian retail sales declined for a second month in January, led by a slump in demand for automobiles, while the country’s leading indicators index rose the most in nine months in February.

Sales fell 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted C$37.1 billion ($38.1 billion), following December’s 0.2 percent drop, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Sales were forecast to grow 1 percent in the month, according to the median of 23 estimates to a Bloomberg News survey.

Magna International Inc., the country’s biggest auto parts supplier, fell 1.2 percent to C$48.52. Shoppers Drug Mart Corp., Canada’s biggest pharmacy chain, lost 1.4 percent to C$40.12.

Canadian Pacific Railway, the country’s second-largest railroad, fell 2.8 percent to C$62.71 after forecasting first- quarter earnings of as little as 12 Canadian cents a share, below the 74 Canadian cents per-share analyst forecast.

New Flyer Industries Inc. slid 13 percent to C$10.40, after dropping as much as 14 percent, the most intraday since November 2008. The bus maker reported fourth-quarter sales of C$204.8 million, missing the average of analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey by 11 percent.

Financial companies gained 0.3 percent as a group. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-biggest bank, rose 1 percent to C$59.21. Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Canadian bank that agreed to buy auto lender Chrysler Financial Corp., advanced 0.7 percent to C$84.55.

“They’re a safer play,” said Brian Klock, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. “It’s less of an impact of all the volatility that these global events have on capital market businesses.”

Rare Element Resources Ltd. surged 23 percent, the most since December, to C$12.56 after losing 6.8 percent last week.

Molycorp Inc., a Greenwood Village, Colorado-based producer, said yesterday that rare earth prices were “significantly higher” than anticipated.

Research In Motion Ltd., which said its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer will go on sale in the U.S. on April 19, gained 0.3 percent to C$61.14.

US

By Rita Nazareth and Lu Wang

March 22 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for the first time in four days, as oil rose amid unrest in Libya and concern grew that Europe won’t find an immediate solution to its debt crisis.

Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, sank 6.6 percent as profit margin fell short of analyst estimates.

Carnival Corp., the world’s biggest cruise-line operator, lost 4.5 percent after forecasting profit that missed analyst projections. Sprint Nextel Corp. rose 2.5 percent after Raymond James & Associates raised its rating. Netflix Inc. added 4 percent as Credit Suisse Group AG lifted its recommendation.

The S&P 500 retreated 0.4 percent to 1,293.77 at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge had rallied 3.3 percent over the previous three sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 17.90 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,018.63 today.

“We had a number of black swan crises back to back, and that’s always very disconcerting,” Barton Biggs, who helps oversee $1.4 billion as managing partner of Traxis Partners LP, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart with Carol Massar and Matt Miller.” “There’s still a couple black swans flapping around out there, but unless you come up with a dire scenario I think we’ll extend the rally.”

Biggs said the U.S. stock market will probably rise back to its 2011 peak from February after the S&P 500 lost as much as

6.4 percent following Japan’s biggest earthquake and as Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi attacked rebels seeking to end his 41 years as the country’s ruler. U.S. stocks rallied yesterday as concern eased that Japan will suffer a nuclear meltdown and after AT&T Inc. agreed to buy T-Mobile USA Inc. for $39 billion.

The S&P 500 today snapped a three-day winning streak, the longest in about a month, as Irish notes slid and oil rose 1.6 percent to $104 a barrel. The slump in Irish notes came after EU finance chiefs settled yesterday on how to enable a permanent rescue fund to lend 500 billion euros ($712 billion) as of 2013, while remaining divided over how to get the current stopgap fund to its full capacity.

“The market is trading on the headlines,” said Tom Wirth, senior investment officer for Chemung Canal Trust Co., which manages $1.6 billion in Elmira, New York. “Things can change from minute to minute. Whenever you get things that are unknown, you start to price in higher risk. Of course, you want to buy at the bottom when the fear is so prevalent in the market. The economic recovery is strong. It’s just that there are too many unknowns right now.”

Global markets are signaling that sustained economic growth will more than make up for Japan’s worst disaster since World War II, rising commodity prices and uprisings throughout the Middle East and northern Africa. Interest-rate derivatives, bond sales by the riskiest borrowers and rebounding benchmark stock indexes all show increasing confidence in the economy.

This year markets have contended with the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, battles between forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and rebels, protests in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen, oil above $100 a barrel, record-high food costs and a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan that killed more than 8,000 people and crippled a nuclear power plant.

“These events are not going to derail the global expansion,” said Hank Smith, chief investment officer at Haverford Trust Co., which manages about $6.5 billion in Radnor, Pennsylvania. “I’m not sure the risk is over, but the fear of it escalating and getting much worse is subsiding. The big picture remains slightly in favor of equity investors. That is, the economy is expanding, not contracting.”

Manufacturing strength from the U.S. to Germany and China is giving economists more confidence that the recovery from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression will continue.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecasts a global expansion of 4.8 percent this year, while JPMorgan calls for 4.4 percent. The average over the past two decades is 3.4 percent.

Walgreen slumped 6.6 percent to $39.21. Gross margin, or the percentage of sales left after the cost of goods sold, was little changed at 28.8 percent in the second quarter, Walgreen said. Analysts at Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc. estimated gross margin would widen at the chain, which operates about 7,700 locations across the U.S. and filled one in five retail prescriptions last quarter.

Carnival fell 4.5 percent to $39.16. The world’s biggest cruise-line operator said it will have fiscal second-quarter profit of 20 cents to 24 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated 33 cents on average.

Sprint rallied 2.5 percent to $4.47. The third-largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier was raised to “strong buy” from “outperform” at Raymond James.

Netflix gained 4 percent to $221.39. The mail-order and online movie-rental service was raised to “outperform” from “neutral” at Credit Suisse. The share-price estimate is $280.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. rose 5 percent, the most since Feb. 3, to $48.84. Shareholder Leonard Green & Partners said it’s examining an offer for the U.S. membership warehouse chain, reviving its overtures after BJ’s began looking for suitors.

Molycorp Inc. surged 18 percent, the most since Dec. 6, to $52.57. The owner of the world’s largest rare-earth deposit outside China rose as mineral prices increased and concern about the impact of Japan’s earthquake abated. Chief Executive Officer Mark Smith said yesterday that rare earth prices were “significantly higher” than anticipated.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Such awareness is like living with a snake in the room; you watch its every movement, you are very, very sensitive to the slightest sound it makes.

Such a state of attention is total energy; in such awareness the totality of yourself is revealed in an instant. -Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

The test of first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

-F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940

Dear Friends,

Spring has officially arrived!

 

SPRING -Gerard Manley Hopkins

 

NOTHING is so beautiful as spring—

When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;

Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush

The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush

ith richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling…

March 21, 2011

Photo’s of the Day

The ancient Acropolis hill is lit by the sun on a heavily overcast day in central Athens. Petros Giannakouris/AP

 

 

 

 

An elephant dances with volunteers wearing costumes to raise money for victims of the recent Japan earthquake and tsunami in Khao San Road, a backpacker area in Bangkok. The donation drive was part of Thailand’s efforts to aid earthquake-hit Japan. Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters

 

The 67-story-high ‘The Masterpiece,’ one of Hong Kong’s most luxurious high-rise residential buildings, is seen during foggy conditions under the influence of a warm maritime airstream at sunset in Hong Kong. Tyrone Siu/Reuters

 

Market Commentary:

 

Canada

By Matt Walcoff and Jennifer A. Johnson

March 21 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a third day as energy shares rallied after air strikes in Libya threatened to prolong a supply disruption and Japan reported progress in solving its nuclear crisis.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, increased 3.6 percent as crude climbed above $102 a barrel.

Cameco Corp., the world’s second-biggest uranium producer, surged 7.4 percent. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest bank, increased 1.5 percent as financial companies advanced.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 224.07 points, or 1.6 percent, to close at 14,013.70 in Toronto.

“The media has panicked everyone over the situation in Japan and shook the tree real hard and unnecessarily so,” said Gerry Brockelsby, who helps oversee C$200 million ($205 million) as a money manager at Marquest Asset Management Inc. in Toronto.

“We’re seeing the reality is not as scary as the media has been portraying it.”

The S&P/TSX has gained 3.6 percent since March 16 for the biggest three-day advance in more than 10 months as oil has rebounded after dropping following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Energy companies make up 28 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, the most among 10 industries.

Crude futures increased as much as 2.3 percent today after allied countries began enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya to stop Muammar Qaddafi’s troops from overwhelming rebel forces.

Suncor rallied 3.6 percent to C$44.63. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, climbed 1.9 percent to C$48.71. Cenovus Energy Inc., the No. 5 Canadian energy company by revenue, increased 3.7 percent to C$37.53.

Uranium producers surged after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Tokyo Electric Power Co. said progress has been made toward restoring power to the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.

Cameco advanced 7.4 percent to C$31.09 after dropping 20 percent last week. Uranium One Inc., the mining company controlled by Moscow-based ARMZ Uranium Holding, jumped 13 percent to C$4.48. Denison Mines Corp. soared 9.3 percent to C$2.81.

Mantra Resources Ltd. surged 24 percent to C$6.60 after ARMZ reduced its bid for the Perth, Australia-based company  to A$6.87 a share from A$8 a share. Mantra, which is developing uranium projects in Africa, sank 31 percent last week as ARMZ said it wanted to renegotiate the deal reached in December.

Canada’s five largest banks and all S&P/TSX insurers gained. The events in Japan and the Arab world have made investors less wary of interest-rate increases, Camilla Sutton, a currency strategist at Bank of Nova Scotia, said in a note to clients.

Royal Bank rose 1.5 percent to C$60.04. Scotiabank, Canada’s third-biggest bank, advanced 1.2 percent to C$58.60.

Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth-largest insurer, increased 2.3 percent to C$17.25.

Precious-metals producers climbed as gold and silver rallied as investors sought a haven from the potential spread of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.

Silver reseller Silver Wheaton Corp. rose 5.3 percent to C$41.31 as the metal gained 2.7 percent. First Majestic Silver Corp. advanced 7.8 percent to C$18.11, extending its four-day rally to 21 percent. Semafo Inc., which mines gold in Africa, increased 9.5 percent to C$9.67.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, fell 0.9 percent to C$52.87 after workers at its Elkview coal mine in British Columbia rejected a new contract. About 750 employees have been on strike since Jan. 31.

Copper producer Taseko Mines Ltd. dropped 3.4 percent to C$5.68 after Alex Terentiew, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, cut his rating on the shares to “underperform” from “neutral.” In a note to clients, Terentiew said Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. is “more compelling” than Taseko due to forecasts of faster production growth and lower costs.

Kinross Gold Corp. added 3.7 percent to C$15.04. The company’s shares have fallen so low compared to other gold mining companies that the Toronto, Ontario-based company may be a takeover target, the Globe and Mail reported. Kinross has fallen 21 percent this year. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold mining company, dropped 7.2 percent during the same period.

 

US

By Rita Nazareth and Lu Wang

March 21 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index higher for a third day, as concern eased that Japan will suffer a nuclear meltdown and after AT&T Inc. agreed to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion.

AT&T added 1.2 percent after agreeing to buy Deutsche Telekom AG’s U.S. wireless unit. OptionsXpress Holdings Inc. soared 17 percent after Charles Schwab Corp. agreed to buy the company for $1 billion in stock. American International Group Inc. and Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. rallied at least 3.9 percent as Japan made progress in restoring power to two reactors. Energy shares advanced as crude oil gained.

The S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent to 1,298.38 at 4 p.m. and has rallied 3.3 percent in three days, the longest winning streak in about a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 178.01 points, or 1.5 percent, to 12,036.53. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, slumped 16 percent, the biggest decline since May, to 20.61.

“We ought to be overweight equities,” said Hayes Miller, the Boston-based head of asset allocation in North America at Baring Asset Management Inc., which oversees $51.6 billion. “I don’t think that anything that’s happening in Japan or Libya changes the attractiveness of stocks. On top of that, companies have cash and they need to deploy it somehow if they can find accretive deals. The AT&T buyout looks very interesting.

Investors are also looking at dividends and buybacks.”

U.S. stocks fell last week, sending the S&P 500 down 1.9 percent, amid concern that Japan’s nuclear crisis and violence in Libya and Bahrain may curb the economic recovery. The gauge rose on March 18 as the Federal Reserve cleared the way for lenders to boost dividends, Libya announced a cease-fire and central banks worked to support Japan’s economy.

Global stocks rose today after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said progress is being made in restoring power to two reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which was damaged by the March 11 temblor and ensuing tsunami. In Libya, allied officials said air and missile strikes have effectively grounded Muammar Qaddafi’s air force.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Japan’s record earthquake is a buying opportunity and he won’t sell his shares in the country. Buffett canceled a trip this week to Japan to visit a factory owned by Iscar Metalworking Cos.’s Tungaloy Corp. in Fukushima prefecture, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns 80 percent of Iscar, a maker of cutting tools.

“If I owned Japanese stocks, I would certainly not be selling them because of the events of the past 10 days or so,” said Buffett, speaking to reporters in the South Korean city of Daegu, where he arrived yesterday to attend a ceremony for a new factory being built by TaeguTec Ltd. “Something out of the blue like this, an extraordinary event, really creates a buying opportunity.”

AT&T gained 1.2 percent to $28.26. The phone company agreed to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for about $39 billion in cash and stock to create America’s largest mobile- phone company, trumping Sprint Nextel Corp.’s effort to acquire the business. The deal would allow AT&T, now the second-largest U.S. wireless operator, to add about 34 million customers and surpass Verizon Wireless. AT&T was raised to “buy” from “hold” at Citigroup.

Sprint tumbled 14 percent to $4.36.

OptionsXpress soared 17 percent to $17.90. Charles Schwab agreed to buy the Chicago-based company for $1 billion in stock, adding the 10-year-old retail options broker to its equity and mutual fund offerings. The largest independent brokerage by client asset will exchange 1.02 shares for each share of OptionsXpress. Charles Schwab added 0.5 percent to $17.65.

AIG rose 6 percent to $37.03 even after the insurer bailed out by U.S. taxpayers said first-quarter catastrophes including the earthquake in Japan will cost the company about $1 billion this quarter.

Hartford added 3.9 percent to $26.49.

An index of energy shares rallied 2.9 percent, the most in the S&P 500 within 10 industries. Oil rose as allied air strikes in Libya threatened to prolong a supply disruption in Africa’s third-biggest producer and on concern that escalating turmoil may curtail Middle East shipments.

Exxon Mobil Corp. gained 2.5 percent to $82.84.

ConocoPhillips climbed 2.9 percent to $77.55.

CBS Corp. gained 5.5 percent to $24.51. Ratings from the NCAA basketball tournament have been up 11 percent from the same period last year, David Joyce, analyst at Miller Tabak & Co., said in a note today. There has been strong demand for advertising and the tournament should be “the second-largest sports ad revenue event after the Super Bowl,” he wrote.

Tiffany & Co. climbed 5.1 percent to $60.22. The world’s second-largest luxury jewelry retailer reported a 29 percent gain in fourth-quarter profit as sales exceeded analyst estimates during the holiday season.

Citigroup Inc. lost 1.5 percent to $4.43 after reporting a 1-for-10 reverse split of its common stock. Citigroup also reported that it intends to reinstate a quarterly dividend of 1 cent per common share in the second quarter of 2011, following the effective date of the reverse stock split.

U.S. stocks maintained gains even after the National Association of Realtors said that sales of U.S. previously owned homes dropped more than forecast in February and the median purchase price declined to the lowest since April 2002.

Purchases decreased 9.6 percent to a 4.88 million annual rate, less than the 5.13 million median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“Those things are all part of uncertainties we deal with on a day-by-day basis,” said Joseph Keating, chief investment officer at CenterState Wealth Management, who manages $1 billion in Birmingham, Alabama. “When you do the calculus, it comes down to saying, ‘the U.S. economy looks like it’s on solid footing and earnings will continue to grow. This is a buying opportunity.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.  Be magnificent!

 

It is only when we give complete attention to a problem, and solve it immediately – never carrying it over to the next day, the next minute – that there is solitude.To have inward solitude and space is very important because it implies freedom to be, to go, to function, to fly.

~Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

 

As ever,

Carolann

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.     -Anne Frank, 1929-1945