Month: March 2011

Dear Friends,

A wonderful weekend is upon us….and for those lucky enough to be in San Juan, this is the weekend that the swallows return to the Capistrano mission in California, as they have done every March 19^th for centuries.  They left California at the end of October and have just spent the winter in Goya, Argentina – 6,000 miles away! They will be greeted by throngs of visitors from around the world, a parade, and a fiesta.  Unfazed by their celebrity, they begin immediately to rebuild their mud nests on the ruins of the mission (its rebuilt Serra Chapel is the oldest building in California still in use) and throughout the valley.  The mission is located near two rivers and is an ideal spot for the swallows to nest because of the (once) abundance of the insects on which they feed.  Though their great numbers have dwindled over the years because development in the Capistrano Valley has reduced the insect population, the swallows, driven by instinct and destiny, continue to connect us to the mystique and the comforting rhythm of migration.

Indian girls buy powdered colors from a wayside vendor ahead of the Holi festival, in Allahabad, India. Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, is traditionally celebrated by people throwing colored powder and colored water at each other and will be marked across the country on March 20. Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

 

 

The US Coast Guard Barque Eagle makes its way up Delaware River, in view of the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia on the first stop of a world tour to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Scheduled tour stops will include London, Reykjavik, Iceland, and Hamburg, Germany, where the ship was built in 1936. It was later acquired by the US through war reparations. AP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horses jump a fence in The Grand Annual Steeple Chase Challenge Cup during the Cheltenham Festival horse racing meet in Gloucestershire, western England. Eddie Keogh/Reuters

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Jennifer A. Johnson

March 18 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, capping a weekly gain, as mining shares increased with precious metal prices after the Group of Seven nations agreed to intervene in currency markets following last week’s earthquake in Japan.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s biggest producer of the precious metal, advanced 2.3 percent, as gold rallied for the third day on investor demand for an alternative to gyrating currencies. Goldcorp Inc. gained 2.1 percent. Kinross Gold Corp. added 1.2 percent. Suncor Energy Inc. fell 2 percent  after oil declined on a cease-fire in Libya.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index advanced 43.48 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 13,789.63 in Toronto for a 0.8 percent weekly gain.

“We had the shock come in that sent markets down,” said Sadiq Adatia, who oversees C$12 billion ($12.2 billion) of assets as Toronto-based chief investment officer at Russell Investments Canada. “You notice very quickly how people are starting to grab up names again and jump back in the market.

It’s more of a buying opportunity.”

A subgroup of raw materials producers in the benchmark Canadian equity index slumped 7.8 percent from March 4 through March 16 as commodity prices fell. Gold and silver declined as investors sold precious metals to raise cash as equity markets fell after the March 11 earthquake.

Japan’s central bank repeated its pledge to pursue “powerful monetary easing” as policy makers sought to reduce the threat of the world’s third-largest economy sinking into a recession. Japan began the effort, with Europe’s central banks following up in their markets, sending the yen down the most against the dollar since 2008.

Gold climbed for a third day, rising 0.8 percent to $1,416.10 an ounce in New York. Silver advanced 2.3 percent to $35.058 an ounce.

Barrick rallied 2.3 percent to C$48.87. Goldcorp advanced 2.1 percent to C$46.76. Kinross added 1.2 percent to C$14.51. Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. rose 1.8 percent to C$65.55.

Silver Wheaton Corp. added 2.4 percent to C$39.25. Greystar Resources Ltd. slumped 1.9 percent to C$2.75.

Colombia plans to reject Greystar’s proposed $1 billion gold and silver mine, which lacked “viability” because of environmental concerns, Colombia’s Mines and Energy Minister Carlos Rodado said. The company said today in a statement it will meet with regulators next week to discuss “alternative options.”

Vancouver-based Greystar withdrew its permit applications yesterday for the Angostura deposit in northeastern Colombia, according to Rodado.

Oil fell after Libya said it will cease military operations against rebels and begin talks aimed at resolving the dispute that has curtailed crude production and exports.

Crude oil for April delivery dropped 35 cents to settle at $101.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures were up as much as 2.2 percent intraday before the Libyan announcement.

Suncor Energy slumped 2 percent to C$43.09. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. dropped 0.9 percent to C$47.81. Encana Corp. rose 1.7 percent to C$33.65, the highest price since July.

Talisman Energy Inc. advanced 1.5 percent to C$23.64.

Uranium One Inc. was the biggest gainer in the Canadian benchmark equity index, paring its weekly decline to 34 percent. The shares rose 14 percent to C$3.93 today.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 18 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, paring a weekly decline, 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.

The KBW Bank Index of 24 companies rallied 1.1 percent as the Fed said some of the largest banks are strong enough to restart or increase dividend payments, buy back shares or repay government capital. Caterpillar Inc. rose 1.9 percent after saying that retail machine sales jumped 59 percent worldwide.

Nike Inc. fell 9.2 percent as the world’s largest sporting goods company reported profit that missed analysts’ estimates.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.4 percent to 1,279.21 at 4 p.m. in New York, rallying for a second day. The gauge pared its weekly decline to 1.9 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 83.93 points, or 0.7 percent, to 11,858.52 today.

“It’s a return to normalization,” said Philip Orlando, the New York-based chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors Inc., which manages $341.3 billion. “The Fed is saying what investors want to hear. It’s allowing banks to create value to shareholders. In addition to that, we have positive news on the international front,” he said. “People will be moving back aggressively into stocks as soon as we get more clarity about Japan’s nuclear situation and the geopolitical unrest.”

The S&P 500 has fallen 4.8 percent from its 32-month high in February on concern Japan’s worst earthquake and surging oil prices will hurt the global economic recovery. The index had a three-day slump through March 16, sending the S&P 500 to the lowest valuation since November at 14.7 reported earnings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The S&P 500 Financials Index gained 1.1 percent, the biggest rally among 10 industries, as 68 of its 81 stocks rose.

The Fed said some of the 19 largest U.S. banks will be able to restart dividend payments, buy back shares or repay government capital after “significant improvement” in their capital positions and the economy.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, raised its quarterly payout to 25 cents a share from 5 cents and authorized a $15 billion stock buyback. Wells Fargo & Co. authorized the repurchase of 200 million shares and a special dividend of 7 cents a share, which will raise the first- quarter payout to 12 cents.

U.S. Bancorp, Minnesota’s largest lender, raised its quarterly dividend to 12.5 cents a share from 5 cents. The bank authorized the purchase of 50 million shares through December.

BB&T Corp., the ninth-largest U.S. bank by deposits, said it will increase its dividend to 16 cents a share from 15 cents.

SunTrust Banks Inc. said it will sell $1 billion in common stock and $1 billion in debt as it seeks to repay $4.85 billion in U.S. bailout funds.

KeyCorp., Ohio’s second-biggest bank, said it is selling $625 million in stock and also issuing debt to help repay a U.S. bailout. State Street Corp. raised its quarterly dividend to 18 cents a share from 1 cent a share. Citigroup Inc. said it expects to be able to return capital to shareholders next year.

JPMorgan rallied 2.7 percent to $45.74. Wells Fargo added 1.5 percent to $31.83. U.S. Bancorp advanced 1.1 percent to $26.65. BB&T rose 0.5 percent to $27.01. SunTrust climbed 4.7 percent to $29.59. KeyCorp jumped 0.8 percent to $8.92. State Street rose 2.2 percent to $44.37. Citigroup gained 1.1 percent to $4.50.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rose 2.7 percent to $159.96. The fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets will buy back $5 billion of preferred stock sold to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. at the height of the 2008 financial crisis and won approval from the Fed for a dividend increase and buyback.

Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares rallied 0.9 percent to $83.48.

Crude oil fell as Libya said it’s ceasing all military action and will start talks with the opposition, bolstering chances of a resolution to the conflict that has cut shipments from the country. Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa made the announcement in a televised news conference carried by Al Arabiya TV.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average rallied 2.7 percent, paring its worst weekly performance since 2008. The Group of Seven nations jointly intervened in the foreign exchange market for the first time in more than a decade after Japan’s currency soared, threatening its recovery from the March 11 earthquake.

G-7 finance chiefs said in a joint statement after a conference call they will “provide any needed cooperation” with Japan.

“We’ve put some money to work,” said Michael Mullaney, who manages $9.5 billion at Fiduciary Trust Co. in Boston.

“There’s good news coming out of Libya because, of course, you don’t want to see a United States intervention. It’s also nice to see the coordination among the G-7 nations because a stronger yen is not in the best interest of the Japanese as they are restarting their economy.”

Caterpillar rose 1.9 percent to $105.06. The largest maker of construction equipment said February retail sales of machines jumped 59 percent worldwide for the three-month rolling period compared with the same months the prior year. The information was disclosed in a regulatory filing.

Cisco Systems Inc. rallied 0.8 percent to $17.14. The largest maker of networking equipment said its first cash dividend ever will be 6 cents a share, aiming to give a boost to investors after the shares fell 35 percent in the past year. The dividend will be paid April 20 to shareholders of record on March 31.

Nike retreated 9.2 percent to $77.59. The world’s largest sporting goods company reported profit that missed analysts’ estimates for the first time in 19 straight quarters, amid higher costs. Net income rose to $1.08 a share in the third quarter ended Feb. 28, the company said yesterday in a statement. That compared with the $1.12 average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Investors who were optimistic before the crisis at Japan’s nuclear plant should stick with their outlook and buy U.S. equities as earnings expand, even after the biggest surge in volatility since May, according to UBS AG.

“Market volatility should come down,” Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at UBS, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop with Betty Liu.” “If you were optimistic before, looking at the fact that employment’s getting better, manufacturing’s getting better and the stock market is cheaper, I’d be a buyer at the current level.”

The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, soared as much as 46 percent at the beginning of this week for the biggest three-day gain since May. It fell 7.3 percent to 24.44 today. Golub said the volatility jump isn’t a reason to change investment outlooks because fundamentals remain intact.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

There is no weapon more powerful in achieving the truth than acceptance of oneself.

-Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

 

As ever,

Carolann

Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all. -Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886

Dear Friends,

The devastation in Japan has  captured the world’s attention and benefitted Gadaffi as his well-equipped military repels and brutalizes their own countrymen.  There is a full page debate in today’s National Post on whether or not Obama should use force against Libya.  On the yes side, Paul Wolfowitz in Washington argues that “The rebels want international freedom.  We should give it to them.”    On the no side, Richard N. Haas in New York City puts forth the opinion that “The last thing we need is another vaguely defined intervention in a place where U.S. interests are not vital.”

Uncannily, last night I came across an anniversary tribute to the Op-Ed section of The New York Times from last year which I had saved, and which contained certain op-ed pieces that appeared over the years on various topics and were reprinted in this special anniversary edition.  The Op-Ed section was an innovative idea when it was conceived –  a full page devoted every week to readers where they could send in their views  on virtually any topic.  The following is a piece that was appeared in the Op-Ed section on August 4, 1993.  It was written by Joseph Brodsky. Brodsky was a poet who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987.  He died in 1996.

AUG 4, 1993

Balkan Excuses

AS AMERICA LIES in its state-induced moral stupor, lots of people die violent deaths all over the place, particularly in the Balkans.  When it comes to externalizing evil, few things can rival geography or, for that matter, history.

What’s happening now in the Balkans is very simple:  It is a bloodbath.  Terms such as “Serbs,” “Croats,” “Bosnians” mean absolutely nothing.  Any other combination of vowels and consonants will amount to the same thing:  killing people.  Neither religious distinctions – Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim – nor ethnic ones are of any consequence.

Evocations of history here are nonsense.  Whenever one pulls the trigger to rectify history’s mistake, one lies.  For history makes no mistakes, since it has no purpose.  One quotes history to avoid responsibility or pangs of conscience.

Besides, the Balkan bloodshed is essentially a short-term project.  Set in motion by the local heads of state, its main purpose is to keep them in power for as long as possible.  For want of any binding issue (economic or ideological), it is prosecuted under the banner of a retroactive utopia called nationalism.

All this needn’t have happened.  Once it began, it could have been stopped.  The fact that it hasn’t been stopped means that its continuation is to somebody’s advantage.  We may ask, to whose?  After all, ethical as we are, we are also a country of the bottom line.  If somebody who can stop a bloodbath doesn’t do it, it means that he profits from it.

photos of the day

March 16, 2011

A woman in Seoul, Korea, walks away from a message wall after writing a note to the victims of last week’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Truth Leem/Reuters

 

 

 

A six-day-old female chimpanzee clings to her mother, Uschi, at the Bratislava Zoo in Slovakia. The young chimpanzee is the first chimpanzee born in the zoo since 1990. Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters

 

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children dressed in costumes walk through the religious Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem ahead of the upcoming Purim holiday. The Jewish holiday of Purim celebrates the Jews’ salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Scroll of Esther. Sebastian Scheiner/AP

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 16 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a third day, led by banks and uranium producers, after the U.S. reported housing starts declined to the least since April 2009 and the Japanese nuclear crisis continued.

Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, dropped 0.9 percent after U.S. building permits slumped to a record low in February. Cameco Corp., the world’s second- largest uranium producer, lost 8.2 percent after the International Atomic Energy Agency said four nuclear units in Japan have core damage. Silver reseller Silver Wheaton Corp. retreated 2.4 percent as precious-metals producers fell.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index decreased 22.14 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,524.82. The index had jumped as much as 1 percent and declined as much as 0.9 percent earlier.

“The market really doesn’t like uncertainty,” said Jeff Bradacs, a Toronto-based senior investment analyst for a team at Manulife Asset Management that oversees C$1.7 billion ($1.7 billion). “Until we have clarity on Japan, I would expect the volatility to remain.”

The S&P/TSX had fallen 5 percent from March 4 to yesterday as the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Commodity Price Index dropped 6.8 percent. Crude oil retreated after surging to a 29- month high as civil war broke out in Libya. Gold and silver dropped as investors sold precious metals to raise cash as equity markets dipped after the March 11 earthquake in Japan.

“Front and center is the devastation and uncertainty in Japan, but you’ve also got ongoing instability in the Middle East; you’ve got continued issues with sovereign credit in Europe,” said Murray Leith, who helps manage about C$6.5 billion as a money manager at Odlum Brown Ltd. in Vancouver.

“There’s some nervousness, some jumpiness.”

The five largest Canadian banks declined after the U.S. Commerce Department said housing starts retreated 23 percent to a 479,000 annual rate. Economists had forecast a figure of 566,000, according to the median of 74 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

Royal Bank lost 0.9 percent to C$59.06. Toronto-Dominion Bank, the parent of Portland, Maine-based TD Bank NA and Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based Commerce Bancorp Inc., decreased 0.7 percent to C$82.72. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s No. 3 lender by assets, slipped 1.1 percent to C$57.61.

Uranium-mining companies fell for a third day as the nuclear crisis in Japan jeopardized a renaissance in nuclear power. Gregory B. Jaczko, the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told a Congressional committee that no water remains in the spent-fuel pool at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Cameco Corp., the world’s second-largest uranium producer, declined 8.2 percent to C$29.43 to extend its weekly drop to 19 percent. Uranium One Inc., a mining company controlled by Moscow-based ARMZ Uranium Holding, slumped 5.4 percent to C$3.52 for a 41 percent plunge on the week.

Mantra Resources Ltd., a uranium producer based in Perth, Australia, tumbled 33 percent to C$4.70 after ARMZ said it wants to renegotiate its A$1.2 billion ($1.18 billion) deal to buy the company.

Westshore Terminals Investment Corp., which owns a coal- storage and loading facility on the Pacific Ocean, slumped 6.3 percent, the most since July 2009, to C$22.56. Japan is the largest buyer of Canadian coal exports, according to Statistics Canada.

Precious-metals producers declined as gold and silver retreated in electronic trading after market close in New York.

Silver Wheaton decreased 2.4 percent to C$38.12. Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-largest gold producer, slipped 1.6 percent to a 27-month low of C$14.29. Eastern Platinum Ltd., which mines in South Africa, sank 7.8 percent to a six-month low of C$1.31 as the metal extended its monthly decline to 6.4 percent.

Semafo Inc., which mines gold in Africa, rose 5.5 percent from a seven-month low to C$8.52. The company is scheduled to release fourth-quarter financial results today.

Most S&P/TSX energy companies advanced as oil climbed on speculation the unrest in Bahrain may spread to Saudi Arabia.

Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada’s second-largest energy company, increased 2.1 percent to C$50.05 for its first gain in eight days. EnCana Corp., the country’s biggest natural gas producer, climbed 2.2 percent to C$32.13. Oilfield-services provider Pason Systems Inc. surged 6 percent to C$14.75.

Insurance holding company Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. gained 2.4 percent to C$360.01 after Moody’s Investors Service raised its senior unsecured debt rating to Baa3 from Ba1.

 

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 16 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks retreated, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to the lowest level since December, amid concern that Japan’s nuclear crisis will worsen.

The iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund tracking 323 securities slumped 3.7 percent. KB Home and D.R. Horton Inc. slid more than 2.2 percent, pacing declines in homebuilders, as housing starts plunged to the lowest level in almost a year. International Business Machines Corp. fell 3.8 percent as Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. cut its rating on the shares. Apple Inc. sank 4.5 percent after JMP Securities LLC downgraded the maker of iPads.

The S&P 500 fell 2 percent to 1,256.88 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 242.12 points, or 2 percent, to 11,613.30, the biggest drop since August. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, rose 21 percent to 29.40, the highest level since July.

“The risks have risen and you have to be mindful of them,” said David Joy, chief market strategist at Columbia Management in Boston, which oversees $350 billion. “It’s difficult to nail down what’s accurate information coming out of Japan and what isn’t. There’s concern that the problems at the nuclear plants are far more serious than the problems associated with the earthquake. In addition to that, there’s ongoing housing weakness in the U.S. and a fear premium built into the oil market. That’s why you have to hedge your bets.”

The United Nations’ nuclear agency will call an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis in Japan as a breach at the stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant increased the risk of a radioactive leak. IAEA Chief Yukiya Amano is flying to Tokyo to talk with authorities today and will return for the meeting as soon as possible, he told reporters in Vienna. It will be the first extraordinary meeting of the agency’s 35-member board since his election to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei two years ago.

The S&P 500 pared its retreat after the Associated Press reported Tokyo Electric Power Co. says a power line that may solve the nuclear crisis at its facility is almost ready. Tokyo Electric Power has not determined the timing for when a new power line can restore electricity to a tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant, Sakio Iwamoto, a spokesman, told Bloomberg News.

Iwamoto said he couldn’t confirm how much progress has been made in installing the new power line.

The S&P 500 has slumped 3.6 percent over the last three days after a 9-magnitude earthquake, the biggest in Japan’s history, struck the northeast part of the country on March 11.

“Investors have priced in an Armageddon scenario,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which manages $53 billion. “If we find that there’s stabilization coming into those nuclear facilities in Japan, investors will turn around and look at the alternatives. People are wary, but at the same time there’s a notion that the economic basis continues to show strength.”

Japan’s earthquake should have a “limited” impact on U.S. growth, said Alec Phillips, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economist based in Washington. Disruptions to Japanese output could shift demand to U.S. products, according to Phillips.

The iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund declined 3.7 percent to $9.66 in U.S. trading, dropping to the lowest level since September. Qualcomm Inc., the biggest maker of mobile-phone chips, and Coach Inc., the largest U.S. maker of luxury leather handbags, slumped at least 2.6 percent amid concern Japanese sales will suffer.

Earlier today, equity futures fell after the Commerce Department said housing starts dropped 22.5 percent to a 479,000 annual rate. The decline from January was the biggest since March 1984. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey called for a 566,000 rate. Building permits, a proxy for future construction, fell 8.2 percent to a 517,000 annual pace.

The producer-price index climbed 1.6 percent from the prior month, the most since June 2009, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median projection in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 0.7 percent gain. The so-called core measure, which excludes volatile food and energy costs increased 0.2 percent, matching forecasts.

A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes declined 2.3 percent, as 11 of the 12 stocks retreated. KB Home slumped 3.8 percent to $12.71. D.R. Horton sank 2.3 percent to $11.70.

IBM declined 3.8 percent to $153. The computer services company was cut to “market perform” from “outperform” at Sanford C. Bernstein. IBM, which makes up 10 percent of the gauge, contributed 45.60 points to the index’s slump.

Apple fell 4.5 percent, the most since June, to $330.01.

The world’s most valuable technology company was cut to “market perform’’ from “market outperform” at JMP Securities. Alex Gauna, an analyst at the brokerage, citing risks related to manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Corp.

Pessimism on U.S. stocks rose for the third straight week, according to Investor Intelligence’s analysis of investment newsletters between March 9 and yesterday. About 22 percent of writers were bearish on U.S. stocks, up from 21 percent last week, according to the New Rochelle, New York-based firm, which has examined forecasts in newsletters since 1963. About 52 percent of investors were bullish, while 26 percent anticipate a correction, or 10 percent decline, in the market.

Barclays Plc’s Barry Knapp forecast that the U.S. stock market will dip in the third to fourth quarter this year, once the Federal Reserve starts to unwind its stimulus program.

The Fed is “likely to keep the balance sheet static after they stop expanding in June,” said Knapp, head of U.S. equity strategy at Barclays Capital, in an interview today on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “In the September to November time frame, they’ll allow it start contracting, and that will be the necessary condition to trigger an equity market correction.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone,

 

Be magnificent!

All the responsibility of good and evil is on you.  This is the great hope.

What I have done, that I can undo. -Swami Vivekananda, 1863-1902

As ever,

Carolann

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.

-Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881

Dear Friends,

As we look at the devastation caused by the massive earthquake in Japan, the grace under pressure shown by the Japanese people continues to draw praise.  This is a culture whose industrial philosophy is summed up by the word “kaizen” – continuous improvement.  Rebuilding will give Japan a 21^st century infrastructure.  It will  also give Japan a massive economic stimulus program certain to pull it out of the doldrums it has been in for the past two decades.  The past has shown the Japanese remarkably able to rise from the ashes.

And of course we remember this as the day – the ides of March – that Julius Caesar died in 44 BC. So why not a small tribute to that great writer of a most famous speech from one of the more remarkable plays ever written:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;  I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.  The evil that men do lives after them.  The good is oft interred with their bones…

-William Shakespeare

By the way, I was reading in the paper the other day, that the playhouse where Shakespeare’s plays were performed, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, has been completely renovated.   Queen Elizabeth officially opened the new playhouse last week.  Something to remember for your next trip to England.

photos of the day

March 15, 2011

Former Olympic champions, American track and field athlete Carl Lewis and Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, pose for the cameras in front of London’s Tower Bridge as they take part in a media event to launch 500 days until the start of the London 2012 Olympic games and the beginning of the sale of 6.6 million tickets for the games in London. Alastair Grant/AP

 

The Mudyug icebreaker, (l.), leads a ship named the Federal Danube as men fish in the frozen Gulf of Finland, 25 miles west of St. Petersburg, Russia. Icebreakers have been called in to free dozens of ships that have been trapped. The eastern Gulf of Finland has not seen such thick ice since 1992, according to the federal agency. Dmitry Lovetsky/AP

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 15 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a second day, led by precious-metal producers, as some investors sold metals to raise cash following declines in world equity markets.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer, dropped 2.4 percent as the metal dropped the most since Jan. 4. Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metal and coal producer, rose 4.3 percent after the U.S. Federal Reserve said the recovery is gaining strength. Manulife Financial Corp., which had 120 life insurance sales offices in Japan on Dec. 31, lost 4.2 percent as the costs of the country’s earthquake mounted.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 72.23 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,546.96, the lowest level since Jan 31. The S&P/TSX has retreated 4.2 percent this month after eight months of gains.

“People are uncertain about what’s going to happen in Japan,” said David Baskin, president of Toronto-based money manager Baskin Financial Services Inc., which manages about C$400 million ($406 million). “They’re worried, so they’re fleeing to safety. They’re buying U.S. dollars, U.S. Treasury bills and selling pretty much everything else.”

The Canadian stock benchmark fell 4.1 percent last week as the U.S. reported an increase in initial jobless claims and oil dropped from a post-2008 high. The index sank as much as 2.8 percent in the first five minutes of trading today on concern the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency in Japan will cripple Canada’s fourth-biggest export market.

Shoppers grabbed water, food and batteries from store shelves in Tokyo as the death count from last week’s events climbed to 2,734. A third explosion occurred at the nuclear power plant north of the city where the cooling system failed after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Commodity Price Index declined the most in four months. Gold dropped 2.3 percent to $1,392.80 an ounce in New York.

Barrick slipped 2.4 percent to C$48.45. Semafo Inc., which mines gold in Africa, declined 5.4 percent to C$8.08 a day before it is to release fourth-quarter financial results. Silver reseller Silver Wheaton Corp. lost 3.7 percent to C$39.06 as that metal decreased 4.8 percent.

Alamos Gold Inc., which mines in Mexico, retreated 6.3 percent to C$15.86 after saying it crushed less ore in January and February than it had planned. This should lead to a smaller profit than previously forecast for the first quarter, Anita Soni, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, wrote in a note to clients.

Uranium One Inc., a mining company controlled by Moscow- based ARMZ Uranium Holding, fell 14 percent to C$3.72 as the Japanese crisis jeopardized a renaissance in nuclear power. The shares have plunged 37 percent this week.

Producers of other raw materials rebounded after the Fed’s Open Market Committee, for the first time since September, issued a statement that did not call the recovery “disappointingly slow.”

Teck gained 4.3 percent from a three-month low to C$51.71.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, advanced 2.3 percent to C$113.71 before the scheduled release of its fourth-quarter financial results.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s biggest fertilizer producer by market value, climbed 2.7 percent to C$53.14 after touching a 2011 intraday low.

“The market’s saying the selloff has been overdone; agricultural fundamentals remain strong,” Edlain Rodriguez, a New York-based analyst with Gleacher & Co., said today in a telephone interview. “We’ve seen sell-offs like this before, and then the rebound as people come to their senses.”

Thirty-five of 43 stocks in the S&P/TSX Financials Index declined. The Bank of Japan has injected 23 trillion yen ($284 billion) into money markets this week to try to contain investors’ panic.

Manulife, North America’s fourth-largest insurer, lost 4.2 percent to C$16.04 even after saying it doesn’t expect property and casualty reinsurance claims related to the earthquake and tsunami to be material to full-year results.

Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, decreased 0.8 percent to C$59.58. Thomson Reuters Corp., the financial news and information provider, retreated 2.6 percent to C$37.86.

Aerospace and defense contractor MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates Ltd. surged 7.5 percent, the most since Oct. 28, to C$52.63 after winning an agreement the parties valued at more than $280 million to service Intelsat SA satellites.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks escaped the brunt of a global selloff that sent Tokyo shares to their worst two-day decline since 1987, paring losses as Japanese officials made progress in stabilizing damaged nuclear reactors and the Federal Reserve said the American economy is improving.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 1.1 percent at 4 p.m.

New York time, rebounding from a 2.7 percent slump, even as the MSCI All-Country World Index of shares in 45 nations lost 2.3 percent. The benchmark measure for U.S. equities retreated to its lowest level of the day six minutes after trading began.

Raw-material, energy and industrial shares in the S&P 500 advanced more than 2.2 percent from that point.

“The more positive tone of the Fed brought some relief especially on a jittery day like this one,” said Richard Sichel, who oversees $1.5 billion as chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co. “Still, there’s an overhang from exogenous factors. Yes, we’ve had a big drop, but I wouldn’t jump in right away. I would wait until the market calms down to take a fresher look at some stocks and industries.”

The S&P 500 closed at 1,281.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 137.74 points, or 1.2 percent, to 11,855.42 after plunging 296.91 points. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 11 percent today and is down 16 percent this week, the biggest two- day drop since the October 1987 stock market crash.

General Electric Co., which is in talks to sell reactors to India, fell 1.6 percent. Dow Chemical Co. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. slumped at least 1.7 percent. Intel Corp. slid 3.2 percent, the most in the Dow, after Nomura Holdings Inc. cut its rating for the chipmaker. Aflac Inc., the insurance company which gets most of its revenue in Japan, sank 5.6 percent.

U.S. stocks pared losses as radiation readings fell below harmful levels at reactors in Japan and as the Fed said the American economy is on “firmer footing,” while reaffirming plans to buy $600 billion of Treasuries through June. Thomas Lee, U.S. equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Mary Ann Bartels of Bank of America Corp. both said the slide in the S&P 500 may be a buying opportunity.

The iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund tracking 323 securities fell 0.2 percent to $10.03, paring an earlier drop of 8.1 percent. That compares with the 9.1 percent plunge in the MSCI Japan Index earlier, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“We’re getting black-swan events almost every week now,” said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, who helps manage $252 billion. “The risks stemming from the Japanese nuclear disaster to the Middle East turmoil are unquantifiable. What happens if we have a meltdown?,” he said. Volatility is on the rise.’’

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, which measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, surged 15 percent to 24.32, the highest level since Aug. 31. The index’s 2011 closing low was 15.46 on Jan. 14, as the S&P 500 advanced to its highest level in two years.

The S&P 500 has fallen 4.6 percent since rising to this year’s high on Feb. 18 amid unrest in Libya and the Middle East and concern about the aftermath of Japan’s worst earthquake. The decline pared the gain in 2011 to 1.9 percent. Still, the measure has risen 89 percent from its March 2009 low amid government stimulus measures and as corporate earnings beat analysts’ estimates for eight straight quarters.

GE sank 1.6 percent to $19.61. The Fukushima plant consists of six reactors based on GE designs, three of which were built by the company, according to its website. Energy and raw-materials producers in the S&P 500 declined.

The S&P’s GSCI spot index of 24 commodities dropped 3.8 percent, falling for a fourth day, the longest losing streak since Aug. 24. Oil tumbled the most in almost five months, closing at $97.18 a barrel.

Dow Chemical, the largest U.S. chemical maker, declined 1.8 percent to $35.96. Anadarko fell 1.7 percent to $75.87.

Intel retreated 3.2 percent to $20.18. The world’s largest chipmaker was cut to “neutral” from “buy” at Nomura, which cited weak personal-computer demand.

Aflac led declines among the 22 companies in the S&P 500 Insurance Index. Aflac declined 5.6 percent to $50.89. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. dropped 4.6 percent to $25.60.

Stock-index futures maintained losses before exchanges opened even as a report showed that manufacturing in the New York region accelerated in March at the fastest rate in nine months. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index rose to 17.5 from 15.4. Economists projected an increase to 16.1, based on the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Readings greater than zero signal expansion in the so- called Empire State Index.

Separately, the Labor Department said that prices of goods imported into the U.S. rose more than forecast in February, led by gains in crude oil and food. The 1.4 percent increase in the import-price index exceeded the 0.9 percent median forecast in a survey and followed a 1.3 percent rise in January. Prices excluding fuel rose 0.3 percent. Food costs over the past 12 months posted the biggest gain since records began in 1977.

Have a wonderful evening everyone. Be magnificent!

Live your own life. That is to say, where you are, as you are, with what you are, and with who you are… Accept the situation in which you find yourself and try, at the same time, to adapt to it.

You cannot escape from it. -Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

Carolann

 

If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much. -Donald H. Rumsfeld, 1932-

Dear Friends,  It is truly impressive how dignified and civil the Japanese behave in this monumental tragedy…

Don Quixote turned out to be an amazing opera.  The Seattle production had Quixote ride on a live horse and Sancho on a live mule – the choreography was spectacular.  The music is very beautiful and the opera is one of the very few sung in French.  It is not an opera that is performed very frequently, so if you ever have a chance to see it, do.

Today is Albert Einstein’s birthday, who was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany, an only child of a featherbed salesman and his wife.  As a personality, Einstein was noted for his kindness and amiability.  Quirky and practical, he minimized his wardrobe – buying identical sets of clothing – so that he wouldn’t have to think about what to wear.  Though he had been an early advocate of nuclear energy, on April 5^th, 1955, he signed a letter to protest nuclear tests and bombs.   Days later, he died in his sleep on April 18, 1955.

Some famous Einstein words:

It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

A family rests in a shelter in the city of Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, three days after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the country’s northeast coast. On top of the losses of family, friends, and property, evacuees in the area are now faced with the fears of radiation contamination from nearby damaged nuclear facilities. Wally Santana/AP

 

 

 

People in Bern, Switzerland, light candles during a vigil for victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Pascal Lauener/Reuters

 

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

March 14 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, led by producers of uranium and other raw materials, as a new stimulus package from the Bank of Japan failed to stem the impact of the March 11 earthquake on global equity markets.

Cameco Corp., the world’s second-largest uranium producer, sank 13 percent as Japan struggled to contain a disaster at a nuclear-power plant. Manulife Financial Corp., which had 120 life insurance sales offices in Japan as of Dec. 31, dropped 3.5 percent. West Fraser Timber Co., Canada’s largest lumber producer, rose 4.7 percent as forestry stocks jumped on the prospect of rebuilding in Japan.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 55.06 points, or 0.4 percent, to a six-week low of 13,619.19.

The nuclear crisis “is affecting how people in the U.S. are thinking about their fledgling nuclear expansion,” said Doug Davis, vice chairman of Toronto-based money manager Davis- Rea Ltd., which manages C$425 million ($436 million). “Who are you going to sell your uranium to if the Americans don’t expand nuclear power plants and the Japanese don’t need it for a while?”

The S&P/TSX sank 4.1 percent last week, the most since July, as U.S. jobless claims increased, Moody’s Investors Service cut Spain’s debt rating and oil retreated from a post-2008 high. The Canadian benchmark has climbed 1.3 percent this year, less than half of the gain of the S&P 500.

The count of deaths from the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami reached 1,823, with 2,369 missing, Japan’s National Police Agency said today. A second explosion occurred at the Fukushima power plant north of Tokyo, where military staff members tried to prevent a meltdown.

Japan’s central bank deployed 15 trillion yen ($183 billion) into money markets to assure financial stability. The Nikkei-223 Stock Average tumbled 6.2 percent, the most since December 2008.

Japan is the fourth-biggest buyer of Canadian exports behind the U.S., U.K. and China, according to Statistics Canada.

The nuclear crisis may cause delays in plant construction, especially in earthquake-prone areas like China, Greg Barnes, a Toronto-Dominion Bank analyst, wrote in a note to clients today.

Japan accounts for about 12 percent of global demand for uranium, a nuclear fuel.

Cameco Corp. fell 13 percent, the most since October 2008, to C$31.70 after Barnes cut his rating on the shares to “hold” from “buy.”

Uranium One Inc., a mining company controlled by Moscow- based ARMZ Uranium Holding, slumped 28 percent to C$4.31.

Denison Mines Corp., which produces the metal in the U.S. and Canada, tumbled 22 percent to C$2.48.

Most S&P/TSX financial stocks fell after AIR Worldwide, a disaster modeler, said Japanese insurers and global reinsurance companies that backstop their policies may face as much as 2.8 trillion yen in claims related to the earthquake.

Manulife, which derived 18 percent of its revenue from Asia in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, declined 3.5 percent to C$16.74. Great-West Lifeco Inc., Canada’s second-largest insurer, dropped for a sixth day, slipping 1.4 percent to C$25.49. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. lost 1.4 percent to a 19-month low of C$348.70.

EnCana Corp., Canada’s biggest natural gas producer, climbed 4.2 percent to C$31.07. Natural gas futures gained 0.7 percent on speculation Japan will need more of the fuel with nuclear-power production reduced.

Forestry companies surged. In a note dated March 11, Richard A. Kelertas, an analyst at Dundee Securities Ltd., told clients the rebuilding effort in Japan “should have a positive impact on most of the North American timber, lumber and building-materials stocks.”

West Fraser Timber gained 4.7 percent to C$53.22 after Kelertas raised his rating on the stock to “buy” from “neutral.” Canfor Corp., another lumber producer upgraded by Kelertas, advanced 3.3 percent to $13.50. Sino-Forest Corp., Canada’s largest forestry company by market value, increased 2.6 percent to C$21.32.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, lost 2.7 percent to C$49.56 after saying weather conditions will lead to below-average first-quarter coal sales.

Equinox Minerals Ltd., which mines copper in Africa, slid 7.1 percent to C$4.84. The shares have plunged 23 percent since Feb. 27, the day before Equinox said it would bid C$4.8 billion for Lundin Mining Corp.

Petrobank Energy & Resources Ltd., a western Canadian energy producer, retreated 5.3 percent to C$19.64 after Philip R. Skolnick, an analyst at Canaccord Financial Inc., cut his rating on the company to “speculative buy” from “buy.” Petrobakken Energy Ltd., in which Petrobank has a majority stake, fell for a ninth day, decreasing 5.8 percent to a record- low C$17.75.

Gabriel Resources Ltd., which is developing a gold mine in Romania, tumbled 12 percent, the most since August 2009, to C$7.14. In a telephone interview, Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Henry attributed the decline to the removal of the stock from the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners exchange-traded fund. The Van Eck Securities Corp. fund owned 10.7 million Gabriel Resources shares as of March 11.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 14 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for a third time in four days, as investors struggled to assess how much damage Japan’s worst earthquake on record will do to the global economy.

General Electric Co. slumped 2.2 percent as Japan worked to contain radiation at a damaged nuclear plant, compelling other nations to review atomic energy plans. Coach Inc. and Tiffany & Co. sank at least 5.2 percent on concern Japan sales will suffer. Las Vegas Sands Corp., the casino company with most of its business in Asia, lost 3.6 percent as Jefferies & Co. cut its rating on the stock. MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. surged 11 percent on bets demand for alternative energy will grow.

The S&P 500 slid 0.6 percent to 1,296.39 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring an earlier drop of as much as 1.4 percent as oil settled little changed at $101.19 a barrel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 51.24 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,993.16. The iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund, a U.S. exchange- traded fund, tumbled 7 percent, the most since 2008.

“The market is pricing in a better understanding of the enormity and complexity of the natural disasters that struck Japan,” said Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co. “The immediate impact will be felt through lower global aggregate demand, disrupted supply chains, and funds flows into Japan.”

U.S. stocks fell last week, sending the S&P 500 down 1.3 percent, after American and Chinese reports damped optimism about the global economy. The benchmark gauge of U.S. stocks is down 3.5 percent from its 32-month high in February, while still more than 90 percent above its bear-market low in 2009.

The selloff in Japan spread to Europe and the Americas as workers battled to contain radiation at a damaged nuclear plant north of Tokyo following a second blast. No large release of radiation was detected after the explosion, which didn’t breach the reactor and followed a build-up of hydrogen gas, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters in Tokyo today. The risk of a large leak is very small, he said.

The Bank of Japan poured a record amount of cash into the financial system and doubled the size of its asset-purchase plan. The central bank pumped 15 trillion yen ($183 billion) into money markets today. Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and his board enlarged a program buying assets from government bonds to exchange-traded funds by 5 trillion yen, about one-tenth the size of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing.

“The Japanese earthquake has the potential to prompt further weakness in stock prices,” said David Sowerby, a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based money manager at Loomis Sayles & Co., which oversees $150 billion. “While you’ll see the Bank of Japan provide intense liquidity and economic activity increase due to rebuilding, there’s a lot of uncertainty. Still, if we have a 3 percent to 5 percent correction in stocks, we’d likely look at what’s attractively priced.”

General Electric declined 2.2 percent, the most in the Dow average, to $19.92.

The potential meltdown at a nuclear plant struck by Japan’s record temblor may be “a big dampener” on India’s program, Shreyans Kumar Jain, chairman of the Nuclear Power Corp. of India, said in Mumbai. The accident may become a factor in the drafting of China’s energy plans, Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in Beijing.

Germany will suspend a planned extension of the lifespan of nuclear plants pending the outcome of an inquiry into their safety, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

GE, which is in talks to sell reactors to India, won’t change its plans for the country after the Japan accident, Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said today. Immelt expects the company’s Indian operations to grow 30 percent this year.

Uranium stocks slumped on concern demand will slow after the Japan accidents. U.S. shares of Canada’s Denison Mines Corp. plunged 22 percent to $2.55. Entergy Corp. declined 4.9 percent to $70.09. The operator of nuclear power plants was cut to “market perform” from “outperform” by BMO Capital Markets.

Las Vegas Sands slid 3.6 percent to $38.62 after Jefferies cut its recommendation for the shares to “hold” from “buy.” The 12-month share-price estimate is $45.

Solar stocks rallied amid investors’ expectations that the companies may benefit as demand for alternative energy grows.

MEMC Electronic Materials, the maker of wafers for the semiconductor and solar industries, advanced 11 percent to $13.37, the biggest gain in the S&P 500. First Solar Inc. increased 5.1 percent to $146.91.

Consol Energy Inc. gained 4.7 percent to $50.87. The coal and natural gas producer led other U.S. coal companies higher on expectations that the shutdown of Japanese nuclear reactors will lead to more coal use.

Lubrizol Corp. soared 28 percent to $134.68. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy the largest producer of lubricant additives for about $9 billion in the company’s second-biggest acquisition in the past five years.

Caterpillar Inc. added 2.1 percent to $102.10 for the biggest gain in the Dow. The world’s largest construction equipment maker may be among the U.S. companies to benefit as Japan rebuilds after the world’s strongest earthquake since 2004 hit last week, according to analysts at Susquehanna Financial Group and Sterne Agee & Leach Inc.

Pfizer Inc. rose 1.8 percent to $19.81. The world’s biggest drugmaker is reviewing the sale or spinoff of business units that may shrink the company’s revenue by almost half, said Tim Anderson, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Pfizer would split off four non-pharmaceutical businesses as well as other units to reduce annual revenue to $35 billion to $40 billion from $67 billion, Anderson said in a research report today, citing a meeting with Chief Executive Officer Ian Read.

U.S. industrial production probably rose in February for a third month in the last four, indicating manufacturing remains a stalwart of the expansion, economists said before a report this week. Output at factories, mines and utilities climbed 0.6 percent after a 0.1 percent decrease in January, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey ahead of Federal Reserve figures on March 17. Other data may show less home construction and contained inflation excluding food and fuel.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

 

Man has accepted conflict as an innate part of daily existence because he has accepted competition, jealously, greed, acquisitiveness and aggression as a natural way of life. -Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

 

As ever,

Carolann

 

God may be subtle, but He isn’t plain mean. -Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

Dear Friends,

It was a subdued day today with the news of the earthquake in Japan; a potent reminder of how fragile this existence is, and how we have to cherish every moment we have.  Tomorrow is the birthday of Jack Kerouac, who was born on March 12^th, 1922.  This passage is from his iconic On the Road:

…the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, and to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a common-place thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center-light pop and everybody goes “Awww!”

-from Motivation:

What is the feeling when you’re driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing?  It’s the too huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye.  But we lean forward to the next crazy adventure beneath the skies.

We’re off to Seattle tomorrow to the opera – hard to believe it’s the second to last one of the season.  It’s Don Quixote and it has been getting excellent reviews so I’m so looking forward to it.  When I called the float plane dispatch this morning to confirm our flight times, I was reminded to change the time Saturday night so we wouldn’t miss our flight back on Sunday – yes, we “spring ahead” one hour this weekend.  I don’t know about you, but I just wish they would just leave the time alone, so away with daylight savings.

Japan’s 8.9 earthquake

March 11, 2011

Traffic is jammed on a road in Sendai city, Japan, after a powerful earthquake –

the largest in Japan’s recorded history – slammed the eastern coast on March 11.

Kyodo News/AP

 

 

 

 

 

Houses burn in Natori, Japan, on March 11 after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast earlier in the day.

Kyodo News/AP

 

 

With a tsunami warning in effect for northern California, two men watch the waves at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach on March 11. The tsunami warnings came after a 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan.

Noah Berger/AP/File

 

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Jennifer A. Johnson

March 11 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the first time in five days, as gains by Teck Resources Ltd. and Barrick Gold Corp. helped the market pare its worst weekly decline in eight months.

Teck, Canada’s biggest base-metals and coal producer, advanced 2.5 percent as copper advanced 0.2 percent. Barrick added 0.6 percent as gold climbed. Insurer Manulife Financial Corp. slipped 1.1 percent on concern the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan will boost claims. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. fell 9.1 percent after reporting earnings that missed the average analyst estimate.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index advanced 35.67 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 13,674.25 in Toronto. The Canadian equity benchmark fell 4.1 percent in the week after oil prices surged on unrest in northern Africa and the Middle East, spurring concern the economy will falter. Copper fell 6.2 percent during the same period. Energy and material producers make up 49 percent of Canadian stocks by market value.

“The volatility has picked up a great deal,” said Danielle Park, a partner at Venable Park Investment Counsel Inc.

in Barrie, Ontario, which manages at least C$1 million ($1.02

million) each for more than 250 families. “The trend has certainly been down. Canada as a market is correcting with the commodities story.”

Potash Corp. has declined 11 percent this week, even after today’s 0.3 percent advance to C$52.65. Barrick Gold gained 0.5 percent to C$49.40, paring its weekly loss to 3.9 percent. Teck Resources Ltd., the country’s biggest base metals producer, fell

5.9 percent for the week, after rising 2.5 percent today to C$50.93.

Manulife dropped 1.1 percent to C$17.35, after the seven- meter-high tsunami hit Japan. Sun Life Financial Inc. fell 0.8 percent to C$30.30. Great-West Lifeco Inc. dropped 0.5 percent to C$25.84.

Pacific Rubiales declined 9.1 percent to C$28.54, the biggest decline in the S&P/TSX Index. The energy producer reported fourth-quarter earnings of 44 cents a share on an adjusted basis, missing the average analyst estimate by 3.1 percent, Bloomberg data show.

West Fraser Timber Co. advanced 6.7 percent to C$50.83, after Dundee Securities said North American lumber producers may benefit as Japan recovers from a tsunami and its strongest earthquake on record. International Forest Products Ltd. soared

15 percent to C$6.00.

 

US

By Lu Wang and Rita Nazareth

March 11 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, trimming the weekly loss in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as gains in fuel, metal and industrial companies helped the market overcome a global slump following Japan’s worst earthquake on record.

Steel Dynamics Inc. climbed 3.9 percent after forecasting more profit than analysts estimated. Valero Energy Corp. surged

6.3 percent as the largest U.S. oil refiner agreed to buy Chevron Corp.’s U.K. refinery and 1,000 retail stores. Pall Corp. drove industrial stocks higher as the supplier of filters for drugmakers boosted its earnings forecast. The iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund, an exchange-traded fund, fell 1.7 percent.

The S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent to 1,304.28 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring its weekly decline to 1.3 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 59.79 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,044.40. Oil slid 1.5 percent as refineries were shut in Japan, cutting demand in the third-largest oil-consuming nation.

“The good U.S. economic signals are winning over external shocks,” said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Capital Management in Richmond, Virginia, which oversees $52.5 billion. “Companies are reporting strong earnings, M&A activity is moving forward, the economy is in decent shape. We had a recent selloff triggered by all sorts of external uncertainties. It may be time for investors to look at the internal strength.”

The benchmark gauge for American equities had fallen 2 percent over the prior two days as oil surged amid unrest in Libya and the Middle East. Energy and raw-materials companies in the S&P 500 posted declines of at least 3.6 percent in the period, the most within 10 industries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

U.S. stocks fell earlier today, following a global equity slump, after Japan’s earthquake. The 8.9-magnitude quake unleashed a tsunami as high as 10 meters, engulfing towns along the northern coast and killed hundreds. The temblor hit 130 kilometers off the coast of Sendai, north of Tokyo, at a depth of 24 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said. A 7.1- magnitude aftershock followed, it said.

Stock-index futures pared declines before the open of exchanges as a report showed that U.S. retail sales increased in February by the most in four months as Americans took advantage of more seasonable weather to buy cars, clothes and electronics.

Purchases climbed 1 percent after a revised 0.7 percent rise in January that was more than double the previous estimate, Commerce Department figures showed. February sales matched the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.

“The outlook is pretty decent,” said Madelynn Matlock, who helps oversee $14.5 billion at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati. “The valuation isn’t ridiculous and earnings look like they will continue to grow. The question would be how much these risk factors influence the overall valuation on these earnings. Right now, we think it’s pretty balanced.”

The S&P 500 has rallied 3.7 percent this year, building on a 13 percent advance in 2010, amid government stimulus measures and as corporate profits beat estimates for eight straight quarters. The benchmark gauge is trading at 15.3 times reported earnings, compared with the average ratio of 19.7 at bull-market peaks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Gauges of raw-materials and energy producers had the two biggest gains in the S&P 500 within 10 industries, adding at least 1.3 percent.

Steel Dynamics rose 3.9 percent to $18.55. The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based producer of the metal forecast first-quarter earnings may be as high as 42 cents a share, compared with the 38-cent average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

AK Steel Holding Corp. advanced 5.8 percent to $15.46. U.S.

Steel Corp. gained 4.5 percent to $55.14.

Valero advanced 6.3 percent to $27.98. The largest U.S. oil refiner agreed to buy Chevron Corp.’s U.K. refinery and 1,000 retail outlets for about $1.73 billion in cash, gaining its first European plant. The Pembroke refinery will add 26 cents a share to annual profit based on 2010 market prices, Valero said.

Industrial companies had the third-biggest gain in the S&P 500 among 10 industries, rallying 1.2 percent.

Pall gained 6.2 percent to $57.02. The supplier of filters for drugmakers and refineries increased its full-year forecast, saying it expects to earn $2.80 a share at least, excluding some items. Analysts, on average, estimated $2.62, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Caterpillar Inc. climbed 1.7 percent to $100.02. The world’s largest maker of construction equipment will outperform the industry over the next 30 days, Morgan Stanley said in a note, picking the stock as a “research tactical idea.”

“The recent selloff created an opportunity to buy beaten-up companies,” said Mark Bronzo, who helps manage over $25 billion at Irvington, New York-based Security Global Investors. “There had been so much fear lately. Obviously, the news out of Japan is very bad. However, we have a couple of things to support the market. We’ve got good earnings reports. Oil is down. There’s not much too say about the Middle East crisis today. Overall, people do believe the global economy is getting better.”

U.S. shares of Toyota Motor Corp., which halted auto production at its plant in Miyagi, northern Japan, after the earthquake, dropped 2.1 percent to $85.65. Sony Corp., which was forced to suspend operations at six factories, declined 2.4 percent to $33.45.

Starbucks Corp. dropped 3.7 percent, the biggest decline in the S&P 500, to $36.56. Shares of the Seattle-based coffee chain already “fully reflected” the company’s global growth potential from an agreement to put its coffee in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. single serve brewing systems, BMO Capital Markets wrote in a note. Starbucks surged 9.9 percent yesterday.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

 

The whole universe is bound by the law of causation. There cannot be anything, any fact – either in the internal or in the external world – that does not have a cause; and every cause must produce an effect.

-Swami Vivekananda, 1863-1902

As ever,

Carolann

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. -James Joyce, 1882-1941

Dear Friends,

A couple of anniversaries to ponder today…On March 10, 1876, The Globe & Mail reminds us today, Alexander Graham Bell made his first successful telephone call.  “He spent three years trying to figure out how to transmit speech across electrical cables.  Three days after securing the patent for the electromagnetic telephone, [he] successfully tested it at his workshop in Boston.  As he spoke into one end, his assistant, electrical designer Thomas Watson, listened on the other in the next room.  Although Elisha Gray would lay claim to having invented the device first, Bell’s purported words that day – ‘Mr. Watson, come here.  I want to see you’  – had the ring of history.   Bell himself would be claimed by three countries: Scotland, where he was born; the United States, where he created his most famous inventions; and Canada, where he studied the Mohawk language as a young man and where, many decades later, he died.”  -Adrian Morrow

The other anniversary is that paper money was issued for the first time in the US on March 10, 1862.

The sculpture ‘The Dog’ from 1951 is pictured in front of the sculpture ‘The Chariot’ from 1950 during a media preview of an exhibition of late Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) at the Kunsthaus Zurich art museum in Zurich, Switzerland. The exhibition, ‘Alberto Giacometti – The Art of Seeing,’ which shows some ninety works of the Swiss sculptor, painter and graphic artist, runs from March 11 until May 22, 2011. Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Jennifer A. Johnson

March 10 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a fourth day as energy and materials producers tumbled after Spain’s debt rating was cut and U.S. jobless claims rose, spurring concern that global growth will slow.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s biggest energy producer, fell

2.5 percent as crude oil dropped. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. fell 2.8 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.

declined 2.3 percent as corn and wheat futures slipped. Barrick Gold Corp. slumped 1.5 percent as the precious metal retreated.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 195.28 points, or 1.4 percent, to 13,689.43 at 2:30 p.m. in Toronto.

The benchmark Canadian equity index dropped as much as 2.2 percent, the most intraday since Aug. 11.

“After eight months on the TSX of unstoppable rally, we’ve hit a lull,” said Barry Schwartz, vice president at Baskin Financial Services Inc. in Toronto, who helps manage about C$390 million ($400 million). “The geopolitical crises are finally getting investors’ attention and the front page news on potential defaults and downgrades of European debt, combined with non-stop bad news out of the Middle East and northern Africa have finally taken the upper hand.”

A subgroup of energy producers in the S&P/TSX has dropped 6.2 percent since March 4 on concern higher oil prices will slow the global economic recovery. Energy and material producers make up 49 percent of Canadian stocks by market value.

U.S. applications for first-time unemployment benefits increased by 26,000 to 397,000 in the week ended March 5, Labor Department figures showed. Economists forecast claims would climb to 376,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

The U.S. trade deficit increased 15 percent to $46.3 billion, from $40.3 billion in December, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington, as a surge in imports led by costlier oil overshadowed record exports.

China’s export growth was the slowest since 2009 and German exports dropped 1 percent in January from December. Moody’s Investors Service cut Spain’s rating by one level to Aa2, saying the government underestimated the cost of shoring up its banking industry.

Libyan rebels fled a key oil hub on the Mediterranean coast even as the insurgency’s leaders won recognition from French President Nicolas Sarkozy of the transitional government set up to oppose Muammar Qaddafi.

Crude oil pared losses after the Associated Press reported that police in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s biggest producer, opened fire at a rally in the east of the country.

Oil for April delivery declined 1.4 percent to $102.93 a barrel in New York.

Suncor slumped 2.5 percent to C$42.01. The energy producer fell to C$41.25, the lowest intraday price since Feb. 14.

Canadian Natural dropped 2.8 percent to C$45.06. Cenovus Energy Inc. declined 2.3 percent to C$35.77.

“The sectors that have done so well over the last two years commodities like base metals, energy, and food are the ones that will take the biggest hits,” Schwartz said.  “These are the sectors that are the most volatile and the ones tied most to economic growth.”

Potash Corp. declined 2.3 percent to C$52.81. Earlier, the fertilizer producer fell to C$51.72, the lowest intraday price since Jan. 4. Agrium Inc. slipped 1.6 percent to C$86.68. Corn futures fell 1.1 percent and wheat sank 2.2 percent.

Gold producers fell after gold futures dropped the most in a week. A stronger U.S. dollar prompted some investors to sell the metal after unrest in the Middle East and northern Africa pushed prices to a record.

Barrick Gold declined 1.5 percent to C$49.26, after falling to C$48.74, the lowest intraday price since Feb. 16. Goldcorp Inc. fell 2.2 percent to C$46.10.

Transat A.T. Inc., Canada’s largest tour operator, slumped 25 percent to C$12.40. It fell as much as 26 percent intraday, the biggest drop since March 2010. The Montreal-based company reported first-quarter revenue of C$810.2 million, missing the average analyst estimate of C$837.2 million, Bloomberg data show.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. advanced 3.1 percent to C$25.50, the biggest gain in the Canadian benchmark equity index. The owner of Circle K convenience stores reported third- quarter profit of 38 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate by 2.2 percent, Bloomberg data show.

US

By Claudia Carpenter and Nikolaj Gammeltoft

March 10 (Bloomberg) — Stocks slid, while the dollar and Treasuries gained, as U.S. jobless claims rose, China’s export growth slowed and Spain’s credit rating was cut. Equities extended losses and oil pared declines as the Associated Press reported Saudi Arabian police fired into a crowd of protesters.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated 1.8 percent to 1,296.76 at 3:14 p.m. in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 1.2 percent to 277.88, its lowest close of the year. The Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against six major peers, rose 0.8 percent. Crude slipped 1.6 percent after tumbling as much as 3.6 percent earlier. Treasuries extended gains after a 30-year bond auction produced the highest demand since 2000. The euro fell to $1.3783 as the dollar gained against all 16 peers.

Investors fled riskier assets after first-time applications for U.S. unemployment benefits and the American trade deficit topped economists’ estimates, China’s export growth was the slowest since 2009 and German exports dropped 1 percent in January from December. The Bank of Korea raised borrowing costs after inflation exceeded its target. Moody’s Investors Service cut Spain’s rating by one level to Aa2, saying the government underestimated the cost of shoring up its banking industry.

“We may be seeing indications of an economic slowdown,” said Donald Selkin, the New York-based chief market strategist at National Securities Corp., which manages $3 billion. “The market has been whistling past the graveyard of higher oil prices and consumers pulling back, but now it’s starting to weigh down on stocks and we’ve probably seen the highs until we get first-quarter earnings results in April. The only thing that is going up today is the bond market as people run to safety.”

The S&P 500 fell for the fourth time in five days, with energy, financial and technology companies falling more than 1.7 percent to lead declines among all 10 industry groups.

Caterpillar Inc. and General Electric Co. slumped at least 2.1 percent, pacing losses among industrial companies, and 28 of 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell.

The S&P 500 has retreated 3.2 percent from its high for the year on Feb. 18 amid concern higher oil prices will stifle the economic recovery. The gauge is trading near its average from the past 50 days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P 500 hasn’t closed below that threshold, a level watched by analysts who make forecasts based on chart patterns, since Sept. 1. The index has rallied 93 percent from its bear-market low in March 2009.

“The down move we’re seeing today is a corrective phase within a longer-term uptrend,” said Christopher Verrone, lead technical analyst at New York-based Strategas Research Partners.

“The integrity of the uptrend since the 2009 low is still intact, but if the 1,294-level on the S&P 500 fails to hold in the next couple of days, we’ll probably come down to 1,260. And that’s a range which we would look at as a buying opportunity.”

Applications for first-time unemployment benefits increased by 26,000 to 397,000 in the week ended March 5, Labor Department figures showed. Economists forecast claims would climb to 376,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

The U.S. trade deficit widened to the highest level in seven months as a surge in imports led by costlier crude oil overshadowed record exports. The gap increased 15 percent to $46.3 billion, from $40.3 billion in December, Commerce Department figures showed. Imports jumped 5.2 percent, the most since 1993, while exports grew 2.7 percent. The deficit was wider than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped eight basis points to 3.40 percent. U.S. debt extended gains after the government sold $13 billion of 30-year bonds, the final of three note and bond auctions this week totaling $66 billion, and rallied further after the report of violence in Saudi Arabia.

The 30-year bond yield dropped eight basis points to 4.54 percent. The securities sold today yielded 4.569 percent, compared with an average forecast of 4.610 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of 7 of the Federal Reserve’s 20 primary dealers. The bid-to-cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing total bids with the amount of securities offered, was 3.02, compared with an average of 2.66 at the last 10 auctions.

The cost of protecting corporate bonds from default in the U.S. climbed. The Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index, which investors use to hedge against losses on corporate debt or to speculate on creditworthiness, rose 2 basis point to a mid-price of 86.75 basis points, according to index administrator Markit Group Ltd. The cost to protect debt from Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. climbed. Six stocks dropped for each that gained in the Stoxx 600.

Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. helped lead basic-resource producers to the biggest decline among 19 industry groups. Home Retail Group Plc sank 5.9 percent as the owner of the Homebase do-it-yourself store chain lowered its profit forecast. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index and China’s Shanghai Composite Index tumbled at least 1.5 percent.

The dollar appreciated against all of its 16 most-traded counterparts, gaining 0.3 percent to 82.99 yen and 1.6 percent versus the Norwegian krone. The pound slid against 13 of 16 major peers as the Bank of England policymakers kept the benchmark rate at a record 0.5 percent low.

The Australian dollar depreciated against all but two of its most actively traded peers after the nation’s employers unexpectedly cut workers in February for the first time in 18 months as floods and a cyclone disrupted hiring in the nation’s northeast.

Crude oil traded in New York fell 1.6 percent to $102.72 a barrel. In London, Brent oil retreated 0.5 percent to $115.31 after sliding as much as 2.1 percent.

Prices rebounded after AP quoted an unnamed witness in the city of Qatif saying gunfire and stun grenades were fired at several hundred protesters, leaving at least one person injured.

Futures slipped as much as 3.6 percent earlier.

Copper declined 0.4 percent to $4.1975 a pound in New York, its lowest settlement price of the year.

The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB index of commodities slumped 1.6 percent, the most on a closing basis since Nov. 16.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Knowledge relieves all suffering.  Knowledge liberates. Which knowledge?  Chemistry?  Physics?  Astronomy?  Geology?

They help a little, but only a little.  The true knowledge is the knowledge of our own nature. Know yourself.  You must know who you are, understand your inner nature. You must become conscious of this infinite nature in yourself.  Then you will break free of your shackles.

-Swami Vivekananda, 1863-1902

As ever,

Carolann

Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.

-Clare Booth Luce, 1903-1987

Dear Friends,

Space Shuttle Discovery lands at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Discovery ended its career as the world’s most-flown spaceship today, returning from orbit for the last time and taking off in a new direction as a museum piece.

Revelers of Unidos do Peruche samba school perform atop of a float during the opening night of parades at the Sambadrome, as part of Carnival celebrations in Sao Paulo, Brazil, late on March 4. Brazil’s Carnival kicked off on the eve with millions of people taking to the streets of the northeastern city of Salvador de Bahia to dance and party, effectively putting the nation on a week-long hiatus. (Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Children revelers of Nene de Vila Matilde samba school get ready at a concentration area before the start of the second night of Carnival parades at the Sambadrome, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, late on March 5. (Maurcicio Lima/Getty Images)

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

Bloomberg: By Jennifer A. Johnson

Canadian stocks fell for a third day, led by raw material producers, as Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. slipped on an analyst rating cut and Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK/B) slumped along with copper prices.

Potash Corp., the world’s largest fertilizer producer, dropped 4.6 percent after Citigroup Inc. cut the shares to “hold” from “buy.” Teck Resources declined 3.5 percent as copper slid on concern higher oil prices will slow the global economic recovery. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM) fell 5.6 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 128.26 points, or 0.9 percent, to 13,884.71 in Toronto.

“At the beginning as oil prices go higher, energy producers benefit,” said Marcus Xu, director of equity investments at Genus Capital Management in Vancouver, which manages C$1.7 billion ($1.8 billion). “But you have to think about the other side as well, which is how higher oil prices will impact the consumer.”

A subgroup of materials producers in the Canadian benchmark equity index has dropped 4.5 percent this week. Copper futures have dropped 9.4 percent since Feb. 14. Oil soared 23 percent in the same period.

Crude oil fell for a second day in New York after the U.S. reported a surge in supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark grade. Brent oil traded in London climbed as Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi stepped up attacks on insurgents.

Futures rose as much as 0.9 percent before erasing gains after Cushing supplies climbed 1.69 million barrels to 40.3 million last week, the highest level since the Energy Department began gathering data at the hub. Oil climbed earlier as Libyan government forces launched air and artillery strikes on central oil ports to halt a rebel advance.

“Even if the Libyan situation settles, there are still other countries to worry about,” Xu said. “The unrest in the Middle East isn’t going away anytime soon.”

Suncor Energy Inc. (SU), Canada’s biggest energy producer, fell 1.4 percent to C$43.07. Talisman Energy Inc. dropped 1.6 percent to C$22.96.

A group of gold producers in the S&P/TSX Index fell for a third day, declining 1.3 percent. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) slumped 1.6 percent to $49.99, while Goldcorp Inc. (G) sank 1.6 percent to C$47.12.

Potash Corp. fell 4.6 percent to C$54.06 after Citigroup Inc. cut its rating, citing a lack of catalysts to drive the shares higher.

Teck, Canada’s largest base-metals producer, fell 3.5 percent to C$50.87, after copper for May delivery fell 2.9 percent on concern demand may wane as higher energy costs slow the global economy. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., the country’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, fell 5.6 percent to C$111.92.

Cineplex Inc. advanced 1.8 percent to C$23.30. The company that owns interests in Canadian movie theaters was raised to “outperform” from “market perform” at Raymond James Securities. The 12-month price estimate is C$25.

Aastra Technologies Ltd. (AAH) gained 3.3 percent to C$24.05, after the maker of telecommunications equipment was raised to “buy” from “hold” at TD Newcrest Inc. The 12-month price estimate is C$32.

TMX Group Inc., the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Montreal Exchange derivatives market, dropped 2 percent to C$39.07 after Toronto-Dominion Bank and other Canadian lenders expressed concern about the proposed sale of TMX Group to London Stock Exchange Group Plc because the country will cede regulatory control of its main stock exchange.

 

US

Bloomberg: By Rita Nazareth and Adam Haigh

U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower a third time in four days, as escalating violence in Libya tempered optimism that the biggest equity rally since 1955 will extend into a third year.

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and DuPont Co. dropped at least 1 percent, pacing losses in industrial shares. Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) slumped 3.1 percent as the largest analog chipmaker narrowed its earnings forecast. Finisar Corp. (FNSR) tumbled 39 percent, leading other network-equipment makers lower, as its profit estimate missed analysts’ projections. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) rose 2.2 percent as Deutsche Bank AG lifted its share- price estimate for the largest computer-services provider.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.1 percent to 1,320.02 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.29 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,213.09 as IBM, which makes up about 10 percent of the Dow, propped up the 30-stock gauge. Oil slid 0.6 percent to settle at $104.38 a barrel as a surge in supplies at a U.S. hub overshadowed concern about violence in Libya.

“You’d be crazy not to be concerned about geopolitical risks,” said Philip Dow, director of equity strategy at Minneapolis-based RBC Wealth Management, which oversees $164 billion. “Oil touches everything. However, if you’ve paid attention to every near-term uncertainty of the last two years, you would have missed the big move in stocks. You can’t see the forest for the trees. There’s not enough evidence that this could derail the global recovery. This is an expansion.”

The S&P 500 has fallen 1.7 percent from this year’s highest level on Feb. 18 as crude oil surged amid unrest in Libya and the Middle East. The benchmark for U.S. equities has rallied 95 percent from its bear-market low two years ago on government stimulus measures and as corporate earnings beat analysts’ estimates for eight straight quarters.

Libya’s Ras Lanuf refinery, the country’s largest crude- processing plant, was shut amid fighting between government forces and rebels, an official with the Libyan Emirates Oil Refining Co. said. Oil tanks at the nearby Es Sider terminal were damaged by bombings today, according to Al Jazeera television.

While some use “these issues to paint a gloomy picture, we remain optimistic and believe this ‘wall of worry’ will help elongate the bull run,” said Kully Samra, who manages U.K.- based clients for Charles Schwab Corp., which has $1.5 trillion in client assets. “The general trend in stocks continues to be higher despite increasing concerns over inflation, debt, global conflict, rising interest rates and oil prices.”

Laszlo Birinyi, who told clients to buy as the S&P 500 fell to a 12-year low of 676.53 on March 9, 2009, says gains that added about $28 trillion to global share values will outlast previous increases as investors who missed the first phase play catch-up. Valuations are still below historical averages, said Barton Biggs, the hedge-fund manager who purchased stocks before the S&P 500 almost doubled.

“These kinds of strong beginnings lead to long and durable bull markets,” Birinyi, who founded Westport, Connecticut-based research and money management firm Birinyi Associates Inc. in 1989 after a decade on the trading desk at Salomon Brothers, said in a March 7 phone interview. “While there will be corrections and while there will be pauses, we’re still of the view that this is a bull market that we expect to go on for several years.”

Five straight quarters of U.S. profit growth and the biggest yearly increase since 1988 have held down valuations, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The U.S. benchmark index is trading at 15.5 times reported earnings, compared with the average ratio of 19.7 at bull-market peaks.

The proportion of investment publications that are forecasting a stock market correction, or 10 percent drop, declined to a four-month low of 26.7 percent between March 2 and yesterday, according to Investors Intelligence, which has examined forecasts in newsletters since 1963. Newsletter writers who are bullish rose to 52.2 percent, the highest since Jan 11, while bearish publications climbed to 21.1 percent, the highest in a month.

Stocks of industries which are most dependent on economic growth, including commodity producers, technology and industrial companies, led the declines in the S&P 500.

Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction equipment, lost 1.7 percent to $102.36. DuPont, the third- biggest U.S. chemical maker, slid 1 percent to $53.71.

Texas Instruments fell 3.1 percent to $34.74. The largest analog chipmaker narrowed its first-quarter profit estimate to 56 cents to 60 cents a share from 54 cents to 62 cents. The average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey was 59 cents.

Finisar tumbled 39 percent to $24.61 for its biggest decline since going public in 1999. The maker of fiber-optic transmission gear said it won’t earn more than 35 cents a share excluding some items in the fourth quarter, missing the average analyst estimate of 48 cents.

Other makers of networking equipment also slumped. JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) fell 17 percent, the biggest drop in the S&P 500, to $21.14. Ciena Corp. (CIEN) slumped 5.3 percent to $24.33.

IBM rose 2.2 percent to $165.86, the biggest increase in the Dow, and touched an all-time high of $167.72. Deutsche Bank raised its share-price estimate for the computer-services provider to $200 from $175. There is “ample flexibility” for IBM to beat its forecast of generating at least $20 a share by 2015 given its revenue growth, productivity gains and share buybacks, analyst Chris Whitmore wrote in a note to clients.

Retailers advanced as American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) reported fourth-quarter profit from continuing operations of 44 cents, beating the average analyst estimate by 1 cent. The Pittsburgh-based company climbed 5.1 percent to $15.56.

J.C. Penney Co. rallied 4.8 percent to $36.94, the biggest increase in the S&P 500. Macy’s Inc. (M) rose 3 percent to $24.08.

 

Yoga is concerned with freedom from spiritual disturbance. The first step in yoga is to engage in introspection, and thereby understand the inner obstacles that must be overcome. The purpose of yoga is to weaken the hindrances which obstruct knowledge of the soul. There are five hindrances: ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion and tenacity.

~Patanjali

Warmest regards,

Chelsey for Carolann

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”  ~Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Dear Friends,

Today is International Women’s Day!! To all the hard working, beautiful, successful women out there – you go girls!

From the Globe and Mail:

Royal officials have launched a website to offer regular updates on the upcoming marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Officials at Prince William’s office, St. James’ Palace, say the website will offer information for anyone interested in the April 29th wedding.

The palace says it will be updated regularly with photos, links and videos.

 

Also in the Globe and Mail today – Movie rentals will be coming to Facebook.

Warner Bros is making some of its films available on Facebook, opening up a new revenue source for the Internet social network and signaling new competition for online entertainment companies.

Consumers can pay for the movies using Facebook Credits, a virtual currency so far used mainly in social games on the site, according to Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc, on Tuesday.

What next?

Female members of the Ugandan police march as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations at Kololo Airstrip, in Kampala, Uganda. The head of the new United Nations women’s agency said there has been ‘remarkable progress’ since International Women’s Day was first celebrated a century ago, but gender equality remains a distant goal because women still suffer widespread discrimination and lack political and economic clout.

 

Britain’s Prince William watches as Kate Middleton flips a pancake at a display by the charity Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children outside City Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Police kept watch from the rooftops for a visit that brought the center of Belfast to a standstill. The crowd around the couple swelled to several hundred as shoppers realized something special was happening.

 

Market Commentary

Canada

Bloomberg: By Jennifer A. Johnson

Canadian stocks slumped for a second day as oil and gold producers dropped along with prices for the commodities.

Suncor Energy Inc. (SU), Canada’s biggest energy producer, fell 4.2 percent as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries discussed whether to hold a special meeting to discuss increasing production as unrest in Libya continued. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) declined 1.4 percent after the precious metal fell. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the nation’s second- largest energy company, slumped 3.4 percent after oil dropped.

“If you look at the actual oil supply, it hasn’t actually changed that much,” said Jennifer Radman, who helps oversee about C$1 billion ($1.03 billion) as a money manager at Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. in Toronto. “A lot of the spike in prices has been in anticipation of things going wrong. Until you see the actual supply lessening, you are going to have limitations on how much higher oil can climb.”

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 79.38 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 14,012.97 in Toronto, the lowest level since Feb. 24.

A subgroup of 58 energy producers in the Canadian benchmark equity index advanced 8.4 percent from Feb. 11 through March 4 on concern unrest in Libya and the Middle East would disrupt oil supply. The group has fallen 3.6 percent since March 4.

Stockpiles of crude oil probably rose 1.13 million barrels from 346.4 million the prior week, according to a Bloomberg survey. Eight of the analysts forecast a gain and six projected a decrease. The Energy Department is scheduled to release its weekly report at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in Washington.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said NATO is debating a “wide range” of options in Libya, and his press secretary, Jay Carney, said that providing arms to the rebels is among them. Arab Gulf nations advocated a no-fly zone and U.K Foreign Secretary William Hague said the United Nations Security Council is discussing how to set a “clear trigger” for UN action to ground Muammar Qaddafi’s air force.

“I think the Libyan situation is somewhat cooling the market,” said Robert “Hap” Sneddon, president of Oakville, Ontario, money manager Castlemoore Inc. and vice president of the Canadian Society of Technical Analysts. “If things do calm down and Qaddafi does end up leaving, you may get other areas start to heat-up again.”

Suncor Energy dropped 4.2 percent to C$43.67, the lowest level since Feb. 16. Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., which explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta, Canada, declined 5.4 percent to C$23.19, the biggest slide in the S&P/TSX Index. Canadian Natural fell 3.4 percent to C$46.46.

A subgroup of gold producers in the S&P/TSX Index slumped 1.3 percent. Twenty-six of the 34 members in the group declined.

Barrick slumped 1.4 percent to C$50.80. Goldcorp Inc. fell 1.5 percent to C$47.89. Gold futures for April delivery declined 0.5 percent to $1,427 an ounce in New York, as a stronger dollar and dropping energy prices eroded the appeal of the previous metal as an alternative asset and inflation hedge.

Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI/B), Canada’s largest wireless carrier, advanced 1.4 percent to C$34.00, the biggest gain since Feb. 16. The Toronto-based company plans to sell as much as $1.8 billion ($1.85 billion) of senior unsecured debt in a two-part offering, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

Celtic Exploration Ltd. (CLT) dropped 5.9 percent to C$20.93, the second-biggest decline in the Canadian benchmark equity index. The oil and natural gas producer was cut to “sector perform” from “sector outperform” at Scotia Capital Inc. The 12-month price estimate is C$24.00.

 

US

Bloomberg: By Rita Nazareth

U.S. stocks advanced, snapping a two-day decline for benchmark indexes, as crude oil retreated and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) sparked a rally in financial shares after saying its home-loan business is in “recovery mode.”

Bank of America jumped 4.7 percent, leading a gauge of financial shares to the biggest gain among 10 Standard & Poor’s 500 Index industries. Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) climbed 4.9 percent after people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News that Deutsche Telekom AG held talks to sell its T-Mobile USA unit to the company. PulteGroup Inc. climbed 8.4 percent after the homebuilder reported “good traffic and sign-up rates.”

The S&P 500 increased 0.9 percent to 1,321.82 at 4 p.m. in New York. The benchmark gauge had fallen 1.6 percent over the previous two trading days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 124.35 points, or 1 percent, to 12,214.38. Crude oil declined 0.4 percent to $105.02 a barrel in New York.

“We’re in an economic recovery and the stock market is reflecting that,” said John Carey, a Boston-based money manager at Pioneer Investments, which oversees about $250 billion. “Companies are flush with cash and there’s been a pick-up in M&A activity, which is an indication of corporate confidence. In addition to that, crude oil prices are down and people can relax a bit about energy costs not going through the roof.”

The S&P 500 yesterday erased last week’s gain as oil reached a 29-month high. The gauge rallied 5.1 percent this year as companies reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates for the eighth straight quarter and the Federal Reserve kept interest rates at a record low.

Crude oil fell as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries discussed whether to hold a special meeting and Libyan rebels prepared an offensive to regain a town. Kuwait’s oil minister said OPEC members are considering whether to convene an “urgent meeting.”

Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the global financial crisis, said an increase in oil prices to $140 a barrel will cause some advanced economies to slide back into recession. Underlying how fragile the recovery is, Roubini said the European Central Bank may be making a mistake by raising interest rates “too soon” when debt-ridden countries on the euro region’s periphery struggle to restore the competitiveness of exports.

Stock-index futures erased gains before the open of exchanges as European Central Bank Governing Council member Axel Weber said he doesn’t want to correct market expectations for as many as three quarter-point increases in the bank’s benchmark interest rate this year.

“One of the biggest fears is that the developed nations have gotten themselves into a zero rate trap,” said Peter Sorrentino, who helps oversee $14.4 billion at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati. “So, if they start to raise rates, the market will begin to move beyond their control.”

Financial shares in the S&P 500 rose 2.2 percent, collectively, the biggest gain within 10 groups. The KBW Bank Index added 2.7 percent, as all of its 24 stocks gained.

Bank of America jumped 4.7 percent, the most in the Dow, to $14.69. The largest U.S. lender said its commercial- and investment-banking businesses are already transitioning this year and may post what the company considers normalized earnings in 2012 and 2013.

Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan, hosting the lender’s first investor day since 2007, is seeking to assure investors the bank will return to profitability as the economy stabilizes and the company recovers from disputes with investors over soured mortgages. The company’s net loss last year was driven by writedowns at credit-card and home-lending units acquired by Moynihan’s predecessor, Kenneth D. Lewis.

“We are changing the culture of the company from a company that was built upon acquisitions and consolidation,” Moynihan said today in New York. “We are again a growth company.”

Sprint gained 4.9 percent to $4.70. Deutsche Telekom has held talks to sell its T-Mobile USA unit to Sprint in exchange for a major stake in the combined entity, said people with knowledge of the matter. Talks have been on and off, and a deal may not be reached, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks are private.

“In general, all options are open in the U.S. — the sale of the whole business or of parts,” Deutsche Telekom Chief Financial Officer Timotheus Hoettges said in an e-mail today. He said the company could also find a partner, sell shares in the market or form a network agreement.

Bill White, a spokesman for Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint, declined to comment.

Announced takeovers of U.S. companies have totaled $186.4 billion so far in 2011, 21 percent more than in the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes rallied 4.8 percent. PulteGroup jumped 8.4 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $7.09. The largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue said it signed up 2,674 homes for sale in the first two months of the year. The orders showed “demand continues to stabilize and slightly improve entering the current spring selling season,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a note.

The Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index of 12 stocks jumped 7.3 percent, as the retreat in crude oil prices eased concern about higher energy costs. US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) climbed 12 percent to $9.28. Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) added 9.7 percent to $11.07.

Energy shares had the only decline in the S&P 500 among 10 industries, falling 0.6 percent, collectively. Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) slumped 2.1 percent to $100.92. ConocoPhillips (COP) decreased 1.1 percent to $78.32.

McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) fell 1 percent, the most in the Dow, to $75.54. The world’s biggest restaurant chain reported sales rose 2.7 percent at stores open at least 13 months in the U.S. last month, missing analysts’ estimates. Analysts had projected a gain of 4 percent, according to the average of three estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) had the biggest decline in the S&P 500, tumbling 17 percent to $31.66. The operator of the namesake and Anthropologie clothing chains said profit margins shrank last quarter. Gross margin, or the percentage of sales after the cost of goods sold, narrowed 2 percentage points to 39.7 percent in the quarter ended Jan. 31, the Philadelphia-based company said yesterday. Profit amounted to 45 cents a share, trailing the 52-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The past two years have shown that stock investors need to focus on “the beaten-up areas of the market” when prices rebound, according to Tobias Levkovich, Citigroup Inc.’s chief U.S. equity strategist.

Auto stocks set the S&P 500’s pace since March 9, 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, as the industry-group index more than quintupled in the period through yesterday. Grocery and drugstore stocks had the smallest gain, at 34 percent. The two industries’ rankings were almost exactly the opposite in the preceding bear market, which lasted 17 months. The S&P 500 Automobiles and Components Index tumbled 84 percent, more than any other industry except banks. The S&P 500 Food and Staples Retailing Index did best by losing only 26 percent.

“Fears of a Great Depression reenactment provided investors with a powerful trading opportunity over the past two years,” Levkovich wrote today. The auto industry is among those most closely linked to the economy’s performance, while food and drug retailers had less to gain from economic growth.

With warmest regards,

Chelsey for Carolann

“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. ”

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928-

Dear Friends,

Bodies in motion: Dancing around the world

The dictionary defines it as “to move one’s feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps, especially to the accompaniment of music.” People around the world, however, have their own definitions of dance, as exemplified by these images taken since the first of the year. And such expressions can celebrate a culture, win a competition, make a living, entertain a crowd, and play a role in propelling social change. Get those bodies and feet moving. — Lloyd Young

American Matthew Harding (center) performs with his fans and followers at a compound in Beijing on Feb. 19. Harding is an Internet celebrity known as Dancing Matt for his viral videos “Where The Hell Is Matt,” which show him dancing in front of landmarks and street scenes in various countries. (Andy Wong/Associated Press)

Dancer and choreographer Daniel Ezralow performs with dancers onstage at the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo, Italy, during the 61th Sanremo Music Festival on Feb. 16. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images) #

member of the Canadian dance troupe “The 7 fingers” rehearses in Bogota on Feb. 8. (John Vizcaino/Reuters)

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Jennifer A. Johnson

March 7 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for the first time in four days as copper producers declined on concern that escalating unrest in Libya will boost oil prices and slow economic growth.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals producer, dropped 2.8 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. slipped 1.4 percent as energy stocks retreated from a 31-month high. Uranium producer Cameco Corp. slumped 4.5 percent, as the nuclear fuel declined. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s biggest fertilizer company, slumped 2.5 percent amid falling wheat, corn and soybean futures.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 159.82 points, or 1.1 percent, to 14,092.95 at 1:30 p.m. in Toronto, erasing all of the three-day rally through March. 4.

“There is continued uncertainty about what is going to happen in Libya,” said Todd Johnson, a money manager at BCV Asset Management in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which oversees C$255 million ($231 million). “I doubt that Libya is the last country to go through some turmoil. Oil prices can be very volatile.”

The Canadian benchmark equity index added 6 percent from the beginning of the year through March 4 as oil soared 14 percent on concern that unrest in the Middle East and northern Africa will restrict supply. Energy shares account for about 28 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Crude climbed as much as 2.4 percent after fighting between Libyan rebels and troops loyal to Muammar Qaddafi intensified.

Hedge funds raised purchases of futures to a record for a second week on speculation unrest will cut output further. Citigroup Inc. increased its Brent oil price estimate, saying the threat of more disruptions supports a “fear premium.”

Teck Resources dropped 2.8 percent to C$52.60 after copper slid 4 percent on the London Metal Exchange on concern slower economic growth will curb demand for industrial metals. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. declined 4.6 percent to C$118.29.

Equinox Minerals Ltd. fell 5.6 percent to C$5.44. Lundin Mining Corp. postponed a special meeting of shareholders to allow them time to review an unsolicited C$4.8 billion takeover offer by Equinox.

Lundin Mining Corp., which had agreed to sell to Inmet Mining Corp. for C$4.2 billion, dropped 4.9 percent to C$7.51.

Inmet fell 1 percent to C$63.34.

An index of energy shares in the S&P/TSX fell 1.2 percent after closing at the highest level since August 2008 on March 4.

Suncor Energy Inc., the country’s biggest energy producer, dropped 0.5 percent to C$46.14. Canadian Natural fell 1.4 percent to C$49.00.

Uranium prices dropped $2.75 from the Feb. 28 exchange value to $66.75 a pound, according to TradeTech LLC. The spot price for uranium was beginning to rebound after falling in February when a seller unexpectedly entered the market offering more than 800,000 pounds, TradeTech said.

Uranium One Inc. dropped 4 percent to C$6.19. Cameco Corp.

declined 4.5 percent to C$37.69, after dropping 6.4 percent, the biggest intraday decline since Nov. 16.

Potash Corp. fell 2.5 percent to C$57.90 after corn futures fell 2.3 percent, soybeans dropped 1.9 percent and wheat slipped 1 percent.

US

By Michael P. Regan and Nikolaj Gammeltoft

March 7 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, erasing last week’s gain, as chipmakers slid after a ratings downgrade and oil advanced to a 29-month high. Treasuries climbed, while Greek default risk increased to a record after Moody’s Investors Service cut the nation’s credit rating.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index decreased 0.8 percent to

1,310.15 at 4 p.m. in New York and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index erased earlier gains to slip 0.4 percent. Oil advanced 1 percent to $105.44 a barrel. Gold trimmed gains after rallying to as much as $1,445.70 an ounce, an all-time high. Ten-year Treasury note yields slid five basis points to 3.51 percent.

Chipmakers in the S&P 500 slumped 2.5 percent collectively, the biggest decline among 24 industries, after Wells Fargo & Co. cut the group to “market weight” from “overweight.” Fighting increased between Libyan rebels and troops loyal to Muammar Qaddafi, reducing crude-oil output by as much as 1 million barrels a day, according to the International Energy Agency.

“It’s going to be hard for the market to push through this headwind from oil in the short-term,” said Daniel Genter, president of RNC Genter Capital Management in Los Angeles, which oversees about $3.7 billion. “The oil theme has taken over from the inflation theme because of the effect higher energy prices will have on inflation and economic growth. The market wants to go higher because all the other demographics look solid, but we’re entangled in this net of geopolitical uncertainty.”

Teradyne Inc., Micron Technology Inc. and Applied Materials Inc. lost at least 4.6 percent to lead declines in all 19 semiconductor companies in the S&P 500 after the Wells Fargo analysts cited the rally that more than doubled the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index over the past two years.

“Our sector downgrade is more an indication of a more moderate though still optimistic view of the sector rather than any active concern about the chip stocks as a group,” Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a note to clients.

Takeovers helped lift U.S. and European shares earlier.

Western Digital Corp., the largest maker of computer hard-disk drives, rallied 16 percent after agreeing to buy a unit from Hitachi Ltd., while jewelry maker Bulgari SpA surged after receiving a takeover offer.

As crude approaches $110 a barrel, higher energy costs may begin to cause pain for companies that were able to weather $100 oil thanks to a strengthening economy. Corporate assumptions would have to start changing when oil reaches $110 a barrel, according to economists such as Chris Low of FTN Financial in New York. Crude at that price would offset the benefit from the tax cut approved by Congress in December, and begin to slow economic growth, Low said.

Commerzbank forecast today that West Texas Intermediate oil will average $107 in the second quarter. Technical analysts from Citi FX say oil is poised to test prices above $120 for the first time since September 2008 after breaching a target near $103. Oil faces resistance above $120 a barrel, the 76.4 percent retracement level on a linear-chart Fibonacci study of oil’s

2008 collapse, said Tom Fitzpatrick, chief technical analyst at Citi FX, part of Citigroup Capital Markets in New York.

Treasury five-year notes advanced, pushing the yield down 10 basis points to 2.19 percent, as the Federal Reserve purchased $6.6 billion in debt maturing from September 2013 to February 2015 to support the U.S. recovery.

Fed Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said the central bank shouldn’t rule out asset purchases beyond the $600 billion planned by June because the U.S. economy could slow again. Fed of Dallas President Richard W. Fisher said he might vote to cut short the asset-purchase program if he believed it to be “counterproductive.”

Most European stocks declined, with three shares retreating for every two that rose in the Stoxx 600. Inmarsat Plc dropped

13 percent as sales missed estimates. Bulgari soared 59 percent after LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA agreed to buy the world’s third-largest jeweler for about 3.7 billion euros ($5.2 billion).

Credit-default swaps on Greek bonds rose 50 basis points to a record 1,036 basis points, according to CMA. Moody’s signaled Greece may face further cuts as European leaders prepared to meet this week to discuss ways to contain the region’s debt crisis. The Greek Finance Ministry said the Moody’s decision was “incomprehensible.” Moody’s didn’t heed the progress Greece made in cutting the deficit by 6 percentage points of gross domestic product last year, according to a ministry statement.

The extra yield, or spread, investors demand to hold Greek 10-year bonds instead of benchmark German bunds rose 8 basis points to 906 basis points. The spread for Portuguese 10-year securities climbed eight basis points to 428 basis points.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.9 percent. Kajima Corp., a Japanese construction company, slid 2.3 percent following a report that its highway project in Algeria may incur losses of more than 80 billion yen ($971 million).

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.6 percent to snap a six-day streak of gains, the longest in eight weeks. Air China Ltd. and Korean Air Lines Co. lost more than 3 percent on speculation higher fuel costs will crimp earnings. India’s Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index retreated 1.4 percent as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party said March 5 it would end support for Singh’s Indian National Congress-led government.

The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index of Persian gulf stocks advanced

1.4 percent, with Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index rising

3.3 percent. S&P said the country may escape the popular unrest that is sweeping the Middle East and that the outlook for nation’s debt is stable.

Tunisia’s Tunindex gained 4.2 percent as trading resumed after a week-long stoppage triggered by violent protests that forced the prime minister to resign.

 

The only way to achieve consciousness is by concentrating on the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. Concentration on the powers of the spirit to discover unity in diversity is called consciousness. All that draws on unity is moral; all that draws on diversity is immoral.

~Swami Vivekananda

 

With kind regards,
Chelsey for Carolann

 

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined.”

~Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)