Author: Chelsey

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