May 27th 2011, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

I thought this was a fascinating piece in today’s Globe & Mail:

TIMELESS WAY TO LIVE

British scientists have discovered a remote tribe that has no concept of time or dates, reports The Daily Telegraph.  “The Amondawa people who live deep in the Amazonian rainforests of Brazil have no watches or calendars and live their lives to the patterns of day and night and rainy and dry seasons.  They also have no age – and mark the transition from childhood to adulthood to old age by changing their name.  the team of researchers, led by the University of Portsmouth, said that it is the first time they have been able to prove time is not a deeply entrenched universal human concept, as previously thought.  Prof. Chris Sinha said: ‘We can now say without doubt that there is at least one language and culture which does not have a concept of time as something that can be measured, counted or talked about in the abstract.  This doesn’t mean that the Amondawa are ‘people outside time,’ but they live in a world governed by events rather than the passing of time.’”

 photos of the day

May 27, 2011

 Pedestrians walk past the artwork Jellight of Pascal Petitjean and Aamer Taher from Singapore during the Vivid festival in central Sydney. Vivid Sydney, a festival of light, music and ideas, will run until June 13.

Daniel Munoz/Reuters

 The pack of riders pedal during the 130-mile 19th stage of the Giro d’Italia cycling race from Bergamo to Macugnaga.

Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters 

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

May 27 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, extending a weekly gain, as a weaker U.S. dollar boosted metals futures.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, advanced 2.8 percent as copper climbed for a fourth day. Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-largest gold producer, increased 5.1 percent as the U.S. dollar slipped after U.S. consumer spending and home sales lagged behind most economists’ forecasts. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest bank, fell 3.1 percent after its quarterly profit trailed the average analyst estimate by 8.4 percent, excluding certain items.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 37.7 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,813.60 at 2:29 a.m. in Toronto, for a 1.2 percent gain this week. “The housing numbers were terrible, therefore, people say there’s no way interest-rate increases are on the radar screen in the near future,” said Greg Eckel, a money manager at Morgan Meighen & Associates Ltd. in Toronto, which oversees about C$1 billion ($1 billion). “That translates in the relationship between the weak dollar and higher commodity prices.”

The stock benchmark gained 3 percent from May 13 to yesterday and is set for its biggest two-week advance since Feb. 4. Raw-materials and energy companies climbed as analysts at banks including Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said commodity prices are likely to rebound. Those industries make up 48 percent of Canadian stocks by market value.                    

The U.S. dollar retreated against all 16 other major currencies after the National Board of Realtors said pending home resales plunged 12 percent last month, more than 11 times the median drop forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Personal spending rose 0.4 percent in April, the Commerce Department said in Washington. Economists had forecast a gain of 0.5 percent, according to the median of 81 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

Base-metal and coal producers rose as copper futures headed for a third-straight weekly gain as Shanghai copper inventories slid for a 10th week.

Teck advanced 2.8 percent to C$50.62. Sherritt International Corp., which mines coal, nickel and cobalt, surged

3.9 percent to C$7.03. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., which is developing a copper and gold mine in Mongolia with Rio Tinto Group, increased 3.7 percent to C$25.06.

Precious-metals companies climbed as the U.S. dollar retreated as much as 1.1 percent against the euro, the most since April 20.

Kinross rose 5.1 percent to C$15.78 for a ninth-straight gain, the longest streak since at least 1993. Semafo Inc., a gold producer scheduled to release quarterly earnings on May 30, jumped 5.5 percent to C$8.49. Great Basin Gold Ltd., which explores in the U.S. and South Africa, soared 9.2 percent to C$2.02.

Harry Winston Diamond Corp., the owner of the Diavik mine featured on the TV show “Ice Road Truckers,” advanced 6.3 percent to C$17.60, the highest since September 2008. Yesterday, Tiffany & Co., the world’s second-largest luxury jewelry retailer, boosted its 2011 earnings forecast.

Fertilizer producers climbed as corn rose for a third day after the China National Grain & Oils Information Center said the country may consume more corn than it produces in the year beginning Oct. 1.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, increased 1.2 percent to C$54.70. Agrium Inc. advanced 2.4 percent to C$84.36.                       

Royal Bank, Canada’s largest company by market value, fell 3.1 percent to C$57.34 after saying earnings from investment banking declined. Yesterday, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported profit that lagged behind their average analyst estimates. Royal Bank’s slump in Toronto Stock Exchange trading is the biggest drop in five months.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Canada’s largest drugmaker, rose 2.5 percent to C$50.81, extending its weekly rally to 5.2 percent. In a note dated yesterday, Cosme Ordonez, an analyst at GMP Capital Inc., said the company’s pending 314-million-euro ($448 million) purchase of AB Sanitas “represents a strategic fit for Valeant expansion plans in Europe.”

 US

By Rita Nazareth

May 27 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, trimming the longest weekly drop in more than 15 months, as comments from the Group of Eight about the global economy’s strength offset a slump in home sales that was 12 times faster than projected.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. advanced 2.7 percent as copper rallied after Standard Chartered Plc predicted price gains. Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. increased at least 1.5 percent, pacing a rally in financial shares, as European Central Bank governing council member Nout Wellink said he expects Greece to get International Monetary Fund aid next month. Marvell Technology Group Ltd. surged 11 percent after projecting higher sales than analysts estimated.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.4 percent to 1,331.10 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 38.82 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,441.58. Both gauges fell for a fourth straight week. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 19 percent lower than a week earlier at 5.47 billion shares before the Memorial Day holiday.

“The resilience of riskier assets is linked to the fact that we’re still going to have easy monetary policy,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co., which oversees $85 billion. “The Federal Reserve’s program of quantitative easing has helped bolster stock prices, but has not helped the housing market.”

The S&P 500 fell 2.4 percent from an almost three-year high on April 29 on concern about Europe’s debt crisis and weaker- than-forecast economic data. Still, the gauge rose 5.8 percent from the end of 2010 amid government stimulus measures and higher-than-forecast corporate profits.

Global stocks rose after the Group of Eight leaders said that a strengthening global economy will pave the way to cuts in the debt built up during the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis. Europe vowed to fight its fiscal woes with “determination,” while President Barack Obama promised a “clear and credible” U.S. deficit-reduction strategy. Japan was allowed to put off savings measures until its economy rebounds from the March earthquake and tsunami.

“The global recovery is gaining strength and is becoming more self-sustained,” according to a statement after a two-day summit in Deauville, France. Without mapping out binding targets, the leaders pledged to “remain focused on the action required to enhance the sustainability of public finances.”

U.S. consumers grew more confident in May than a month earlier as declining gasoline prices helped lift Americans’ spirits.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment increased to a three-month high of 74.3 from 69.8 in April. Economists forecast a reading of 72.4, the same as the preliminary figure issued earlier this month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

“The world is healing economically,” said Philip Orlando, the New York-based chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors Inc., which oversees $358.2 billion. “I’m delighted to see the G-8 take a longer-term view of things, especially because some investors have been focused on the near term.”

U.S. stocks rose and a gauge of homebuilders in the S&P indexes rallied 1.9 percent even after a report showed that the number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes plunged more than forecast in April, a sign the industry that triggered the recession continues to struggle.

A gauge of raw-material producers had the biggest gain in the S&P 500 within 10 industries, rising 1 percent. Copper rose in New York as increased premiums signaled stronger demand in China and Standard Chartered Plc predicted price gains, joining banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Freeport, the largest publicly traded copper producer, advanced 2.7 percent to $51.73.

Banks had the biggest gain in the S&P 500 within 24 industries, rallying 1.5 percent as a group. The KBW Bank Index added 1.4 percent as 21 of its 24 stocks gained.

Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. home lender, advanced 1.6 percent to $28.14. Bank of America rose the most in the Dow, rallying 2 percent to $11.69.

Marvell Technology surged 11 percent to $16.17. The maker of the processor that runs BlackBerry smartphones forecast second-quarter profit of 35 cents to 39 cents a share, excluding some items. Analysts projected 33 cents, according to the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Broadcom Corp. climbed 5.4 percent to $36.52. The maker of semiconductors for wireless headsets and television set-top boxes was added to FBR Capital Markets’ Top Picks list. The stock presented “an attractive and rare value opportunity” for investors, given the company’s growth potential, analyst Craig Berger wrote in a note.                         

Aflac Inc. fell 3.2 percent to $48. The world’s largest seller of supplemental health insurance was cut to “equal weight” from “overweight” at Morgan Stanley, which said the company may see a limit to its capital management opportunities.

Nouriel Roubini, the economist who predicted the global financial crisis, said stock markets are at the “tipping point” of a correction as economic growth may begin to slow.

Companies had ridden a worldwide recovery to boost sales and profits, supporting equity price increases, Roubini told a conference in Budapest today. Now, signs of a global economic slowdown may drag down stock prices, he said. “Until two weeks ago I’d say markets were shrugging off all these concerns, saying they don’t matter because they were believing the global economic recovery was on track,” Roubini said. “But I think right now we’re on the tipping point of a market correction. Data from the U.S., from Europe, from Japan, from China are suggesting an economic slowdown.”

 Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 Be magnificent!

 True morality consists not in following

the well-beaten track,

but in finding out the true path for ourselves

and in fearlessly following it.

 -Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948

 As ever,

 Carolann

 My motto was always to keep swinging.

Whether I was in a slump or feeling

badly or having trouble off the field, the

only thing to do was keep swinging.

                   -Hank Aaron, 1934-