Roger Biduk; Financials Slam Bay Street

Roger Biduk writes:

You’ll see red right across the numbers as all the major North American indexes closed lower today.
Banks got sold off again (as they should be…watch FAZ (+15.73% today) when the financials tank & FAS when they rise.)
Even Microsoft surprised everyone by missing earnings estimates and canning 5000 jobs. To view Steve Balmer’s memo to the troops click here. http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080723/microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmers-full-memo-to-the-troops-about-new-reorg/

Yesterday’s gain was wiped out as the TSX tanked 271.33 points today.
The TSX Venture Exchange was lower by 1.34.
Looks like people locked up their wallets as retail sales stunk in November, dropping 2.4% from the previous month. According to Stats Canada, this was the biggest loss in almost a decade. For some reason, the CDN$ rose 0.13 cent to 79.76

It also looks like people aren’t driving as much as they use to because of the crap economy. Oil inventories jumped more than analysts thought they would (actually 3X more or 4.1 billion bl. more than expected!) in the U.S. and that added to a selloff in the energy sector.
In fact, they’re running out of storage room for crude. I think oil should go down to $8/bl. like the good old days…..there’s just no demand right now (Saudi’s aren’t too happy right now!).
The S&P/TSX Energy Index sank 4.37% as the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost $.12 to US$43.67. Natural gas declining 1.86% to $4.64.
Decliners include Pason Systems (PSI) tanking 10.84% to $11.10. Flint Energy Services (FES) sinking 9.85% to $5.31. Cathedral Energy Services (CET.UN) down 9.20% to $4.64. Verenex Energy (VNX) lower by 7.66% to $7.10. North American Energy Partners (NOA) down 6.99% to $3.06. Crew Energy (CR) sinking 6.80% to $3.84. Suncor Energy (SU) losing 6.75% to $22.92. Petrominerales (PMG) down 5.74% to $5.42. Enerplus Res. (ERF.UN) lower by 5.58% to $26.07. Canadian Natural Res. (CNQ) down 5.48% to $42.81. Canada Oil Sand Trust (COS.UN) sank 7.02% to $16.95. Enbridge Income Fund (ENF.UN) dropped 6.98% to $10.00. Arc Energy trust (AET.UN) down 6.73% to $16.35.
Heritage Oil Corp. (HOC) soared 16.28% to $4.00.

Roger Biduk
Here’s a good one. The Bank of Canada said the country's bounce-back from recession will be as sharp as the drop has been. The bank estimates the economy will shrink at an annual rate of 4.8 per cent during the current quarter but will rebound in the second half of this year and will grow by 3.8 per cent in 2010.
Let me tell you something. If unemployment gets into double digits in the U.S. (and I think it will) and the commercial real estate market starts to go down the tank (just makes sense if there’s no employees to fill up the buildings) I think 2010 is a dream. Funny no one is talking about this.

The financial sector got hammered again today. The S&P/TSX Capped Financial index tanked 5.92%. Even though Canada has the best banking system in the world, financial stocks are going to continue to follow the crappy financial sector in the U.S.
Losers include SL Split Corp. (SLS) tanking 25.17% to $2.20. Manulife Financial (MFC) sinking 11.70% to $19.10. Big bank Big Oil Split (BBO) dropped 9.77% to $6.00. Melcor Developments (MRD) sank 9.23% to 4.72. Sun Life Financial (SLF) dropped 8.63% to $23.30. Brookfield Properties (BPO) lost 8.50% to $6.57. Royal Bank (RY) sank 6.38% to $30.07. Kingsway Financial Serv. (KFS) dropped 6.36% to $6.18. Bank of Nova Scotia (BS) lower by 5.45% to $28.08. CIBC (CM) sank 5.15% to $43.25.
Gainers include Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund (CHE.UN) gained 5.96% to $9.25. Urbana Corp. (URB) soared 19.10% to $2.37.

The S&P Capped Diversified Metals and Minerals Index dropped 3.17% as copper lost 2.62% to $1.40. Silver gained $.04 to $11.37. Aluminum slumped 4.28% to $.62.
Tech Comonco (TCK.B) lost 6.87% to $5.29. Lundin Mining Corp. (TSX:LUN) declined five cents to $1.19 after it accelerated the shutdown of a zinc mine in Ireland, leaving 200 people out of work.

The S&P/TSX Global Gold Index dropped 1.79% as the February bullion contract in New York rose $9.20 to US$859.30 an ounce.
Gainers include Greystar Res. (GSL) soaring 13.86% to $2.30. Richmont Mines (RIC) jumping 11.43% to $2.73. Jaguar Mining (JAG) gained 8.20% to $6.60.
Losers include Aquiline Res. (AQI) down 5.32% to $2.67

Roger Biduk
The S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology Index was down .91% and the S&P/TSX Capped Telecom Index was down .49%.
CryptoLogic Exchange (CXY) soared 24.14% to $5.40. CryptoLogic Ltd. (CRY) jumped 10.22% to $5.50. Gennum Corp. (GND) up by 8.20% to $6.99. JDS Uniphase (JDU) lost 7.68% to $4.33.
Shares in Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM) were off $1.08 at $65.67 following a report in The Globe and Mail that Ontario's stock watchdog and RIM co-chief executive officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are negotiating a settlement related to their role in a stock option accounting controversy dating back to 1996.

The S&P/TSX Consumer Discretionary Index was down 1.51% and the S&P/TSX Consumer Staples Index was down .94%.
Linamar corp. (LNR) sank 6.81% to $3.83.
Sun-Rype Products (SRF) soared 19.63% to $7.19.

The S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index sank 1.96%.
Imris (IM) gained 8.11% to $2.00.

The S&P/TSX Capped Utilities Index dropped 1.29%.
The S&P/TSX Capped Industrial Index was down 1.65%.

In the chemicals sector, NOVA Chemicals corp (NCX) jumped 6.74% to $4.75.
Potash Corp. (POT) jumped 5.30% to $91.19. Its full-year earnings tripled to $3.5 billion. Fourth-quarter profit more than doubled to $788 million, but PotashCorp cut its 2009 earnings guidance to $10.75 per share, from $12 to $13 per share.

In the service sector, Canadian Tire (CTC.A) sank 5.14% to $40.44. Softchoice (SO) lost 5.32% to $2.85 and Ritchie Bros. (RBA) dropped 5.50% to $22.66. After markets closed, CN Rail (TSX:CNR), Canada's largest railway, raised its dividend 10 per cent despite a drop in fourth-quarter profits to $573 million, including a tax recovery. Revenues grew 13 per cent to $2.2 billion.

www.rogerbiduk.ca
www.rogerbiduk.wordpress.com
www.rogerbiduk.blogspot.com
http://bestcatanddognutrition.wordpress.com/