November 26, 2012 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

This past weekend marked another successful year for retailers in America.  Millions of shoppers lined up to take part in the sales offered on Black Friday, which always falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But why is it called Black Friday?  The name was given by the Philadelphia Police Department in 1966 because there were many traffic accidents caused from the number of shoppers that came out to get the best store deals. Reports claim that over 307 million people shopped on Black Friday this year and for the first time in history, online retail spending topped 1 billion, according to market research firm comScore. The company says online retail purchases totaled $13.7 billion in the United States during the first 23 days of the holiday shopping season, capped off by a $1.042 billion on the Black Friday binge. That figure is up 26% from the $816 million spent online on Black Friday last year, and Thanksgiving Day spending jumped 32% to $633 million from $479 million in 2011. ComScore also said that it estimates Cyber Monday online spending to top $1.5 billion, up 20% from 2011. Were you brave enough to battle the stores this past weekend?

And on this day in…

1867 – J.B. Sutherland patented the refrigerated railroad car.
1917 – The National Hockey League (NHL) was officially formed in Montreal, Canada.
1922 – In Egypt, Howard Carter peered into the tomb of King Tutankhamen.
1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1939 Roosevelt had signed a bill that changed the celebration of Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November.
1942 – The motion picture “Casablanca” had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.
1958 – Maurice Richard (Montreal Canadians) scored his 600th NHL career goal.
1965 – France became the third country to enter space when it launched its first satellite theDiamant-A.
1979 – The International Olympic Committee voted to re-admit China after a 21-year absence.
1985 – The rights to Richard Nixon‘s autobiography were acquired by Random House for $3,000,000. 

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek” – Barack Obama

photos of the day November 26^th, 2012

A vendor sells Christmas stars on the first day of the Christmas Market near the city hall in Berlin.

A man paddles his kayak by the fountain that looks like a geyser during sunset at the Ada Ciganlija Lake in Belgrade, Serbia. Weather forecast predicts good autumnal weather conditions in Serbia for the upcoming days.

Market Closes for November 26^th, 2012:

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for the first time in seven days as U.S. budget talks resumed and European finance chiefs discussed Greek aid, while Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney was named to head the Bank of England.

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., Canada’s largest engineering and construction company, fell 2.2 percent after Swiss authorities said a former company vice president was still in custody related to a corruption investigation. TransGlobe Energy Corp. and Paramount Resources Ltd. lost at least 2.6 percent as crude oil fell in New York.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 28.19 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,185.05 in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge is up 1.9 percent this year.

“We’re back in uncertainty mode,” said Laura Wallace, a money manager in the private client division at the Bank of Nova Scotia who helps manage about C$12 billion ($12.07 billion).

“People are paying attention to Europe, but there isn’t an imminent event. In the U.S., there is a time pressure that is not as present in the Greek situation.”

Carney’s appointment as the next governor of the Bank of England is not expected to impact markets substantially in the short term, but the longer term outlook will depend greatly on his successor, Wallace said.

Carney, 47, took over as chief of Canada’s central bank in 2008. He replaces Mervyn King, who has served as the Bank of England’s governor since 2003.

The U.S. Congress returns from the Thanksgiving recess this week, seeking a budget deal to prevent $607 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts from kicking in next year. If a compromise is not reached on the so-called fiscal cliff, the country is expected to fall into recession in the first half of the year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Euro-area finance ministers will push the International Monetary Fund and central bankers to endorse new plans to save Greece from the fiscal abyss, seeking to overcome the latest impasse in the  debt crisis and restart aid payments to Athens.

Raw materials and energy stocks contributed the most to declines in the S&P/TSX as eight of 10 industries retreated.

Trading volume was 11 percent higher than the 30-day average.

TransGlobe Energy dropped 5.3 percent to C$10.45 and Paramount Resources lost 2.6 percent to C$34.33. Crude for January delivery declined 0.6 percent to settle at $87.74 a barrel in New York. Prices are down 11 percent this year.

Semafo Inc. fell 2.6 percent to C$3.37 and Denison Mines Corp. retreated 1.7 percent to C$1.14. Gold for December delivery slid 0.1 percent to settle at $1,749.60 an ounce in New York. Taseko Mines Ltd., which mines for copper and molybdenum, slipped 2.7 percent to C$2.84.

SNC-Lavalin fell 2.2 percent to C$40.63 after the Swiss Attorney General’s office said a Tunisian-Canadian citizen and former vice president of the company was being held under investigation of alleged acts of corruption, fraud and money laundering related to business in North Africa.

The stock has slumped 20 percent this year after the company got embroiled in a corruption scandal.

Hudson’s Bay Co., Canada’s oldest company, rose 0.2 percent to C$16.89 in the first day of official trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The retailer, which was founded in 1670 as a fur-trading venture, raised C$365 million in an initial public offering last week.

Hudson’s Bay was publicly traded in Canada until U.S. investor Jerry Zucker took the chain private in 2006 for C$860 million after fighting for control for more than a year.

US

By Stephen Kirkland and Inyoung Hwang

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) — Stocks fell, following the best weekly rally of 2012 for global equities, as U.S. leaders prepared to negotiate a budget deal and European finance chiefs meet on Greek aid. Treasuries rose for the first time in a week.

The MSCI All-Country World Index slipped 0.1 percent as of 4 p.m. in New York after surging 3.9 percent last week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.2 percent to 1,406.29, paring an earlier drop of as much as 0.8 percent. The euro weakened against most of its major peers. Treasury 10-year yields lost three basis points to 1.66 percent. Gold snapped a three-day advance in London and New York-traded oil fell as 15 of 24 commodities tracked by the S&P GSCI Index dropped.

While U.S. Republican lawmakers favor raising tax revenue by limiting deductions rather than by increasing rates, Democrats are pushing for higher rates on upper-income earners. Leaders need to find a compromise to avoid triggering a so- called fiscal cliff of $607 billion in tax increases and spending cuts in January that the Congressional Budget Office said may lead to a recession. Euro-area finance ministers meet today in Brussels to negotiate a bailout payment for Greece.

“People are returning to work and with eyes wide open, they see news that’s less good than when they left,” Lawrence Creatura, who helps oversee $370 billion as a Rochester, New York-based fund manager at Federated Investors Inc., said in a telephone interview. “The probability of a smooth resolution to the fiscal seems to have declined,” he said. “Everyone is sorting through the retail data and it looks like results were mixed. Rather than an outright robust season, it’s one where there’ll be winners and losers.”

Macy’s Inc., Big Lots Inc. and Nordstrom Inc. helped lead the S&P 500 Retailing Index lower following a 5.6 percent rally in the previous five sessions. Stores are extending deals into Cyber Monday and beyond to try to sustain a 13 percent gain in Thanksgiving weekend sales. Spending in stores and online rose to $59.1 billion in the four days starting Nov. 22, the National Retail Federation said. A year ago, sales grew 16 percent over the holiday weekend.

Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week” that any deal to reduce the budget deficit should allow the top tax rate to rise. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said on “Fox News Sunday” that he would be “very much opposed” to raising taxes and advocated closing “loopholes,” including limits on deductions for charitable giving and home mortgage interest payments.

“Fiscal cliff negotiations are likely to be the immediate focus this week,” Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank AG in London, wrote in a report. “As a reminder of the gathering urgency there are only 36 days left until the fiscal cliff is due to kick-in, and from a practical stand point, exactly four weeks until the Christmas break to bridge the outstanding gap between the Democrats and Republicans.”

The S&P 500 retreated after last week’s 3.6 percent advance, the most since June. Telephone, energy and financial shares helped lead losses among the 10 main industry groups, with Exxon Mobil Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and AT&T Inc. pacing declines. Exelon Corp. led a rally in utilities after Deutsche Bank advised buying the shares, saying its 34 percent drop this year may provide an opportunity for value investors.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. slumped after providing a profit forecast below analysts’ estimates. DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. dropped as “Rise of the Guardians” opened in fourth place in cinemas over the Thanksgiving weekend. Knight Capital Group Inc. surged after a person with direct knowledge of the matter said the trading firm expects to receive acquisition proposals as early as this week.

The Stoxx 600 fell for the first time in six days as 17 of 19 industry groups retreated. Barclays Plc sank 5.4 percent as Qatar Holding LLC sold the last of the warrants it acquired during the financial crisis, triggering a 771 million-pound ($1.24 billion) stock offering by the banks that arranged the transaction. Straumann Holding AG advanced 2.3 percent as Vice Chairman Thomas Straumann sold a 10 percent stake in the dental- implant manufacturer to Government of Singapore Investment Corp.

The euro weakened against 13 of 16 major peers, slipping 0.5 percent against the yen and less than 0.1 percent versus dollar. The yen advanced against all 16 of its major counterparts.

The European Central Bank is considering new ways to reduce Greece’s funding gap by using the Greek debt in its investment portfolios, three euro-area officials said. National central banks of the euro area hold Greek bonds in their investment portfolios and agreed in February to give any profits back to Greece. The issue has been reopened and the ECB is now looking at options including rolling over the holdings or allowing the Greek government to buy them back, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

German 10-year bunds rose, pushing the yield down two basis points to 1.41 percent. Italian 10-year bond yields were little changed at 4.75 percent and rates on similar-maturity Spanish yields debt were little changed at 5.62 percent. Hungary’s five- year note yield rose three basis points after S&P downgraded the country’s debt late on Nov. 23.

The cost of insuring against default on corporate date rose, snapping five days of declines, with the Markit iTraxx Europe index of credit-default swaps linked to 125 investment grade companies climbing four basis points to 125.

Oil declined 0.6 percent to $87.74 a barrel today. Natural gas, cocoa and coffee lost at least 1.3 percent for the biggest declines in S&P GSCI Index, while cotton, zinc, aluminum and Kansas wheat rose the most.

Gold for immediate delivery fell 0.2 percent to $1,749.05 an ounce. Soybeans advanced 0.4 percent on concern dryness in Brazil and rain in Argentina may threaten supply as demand increases in China, the world’s biggest buyer. Prices climbed 2.6 percent last week, the most since the five days ended Aug.24.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slipped 0.1 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex index climbed 1.1 percent after Premier Sean Chen asked the government to prepare a proposal to boost stocks. The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.5 percent while Russia’s Micex Index lost 0.7 percent and India’s Sensex added 0.2 percent. Brazil’s Bovespa slipped 1.5 percent, retreating for the first time in three sessions as a drop in commodities weighed on producers.

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”
Carl Sandburg

Happy Monday Everyone!!!!

Be magnificent!

“Peace is its own reward” – Mahatma Gandhi

Amanda Bourke

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

Queensbury Securities Inc.