This Week in Business

This is Jeff Wareham, with This Week in Business. Another week, and more signs that the U.S. Federal Reserve is determined to add debt far into the ongoing U.S. recovery.  Canadians need to pay attention to this for at least two reasons.  First, it will continue to drive the surging loonie higher, or at least the greenback lower. Second, it will continue to impact the price of commodites, assets, food, and even bonds.  

North American markets stretched higher this week.   Toronto's TSX finished the week at 13792. The Dow in New York finished at 12092. The Standard and Poors index finished at 1311, and the Nasdaq finished at 2769.  Asian and European markets joined the party, ending broadly higher. Oil fell through the week, ending at 89 dollars,   Gold fell as investors seemed less concerned by uncertainty in Egypt well. The loonie recovered to 101.20 against the US greenback.  Events in the Middle East dominated the news, leaving domestic economic news literally in the dust.  Unemployment numbers in Canada were very positive, with a drop in local and national rates.  In fact, the employment level exceeded the high point prior to the downturn.  U.S. unemployment dropped dramatically, but over a million discouraged workers simply stopped looking, and only 36000 net new jobs were created.  Further negative housing data broke, and 3 more U.S. banks failed. Visit my blog at www.am980.ca, follow @beyondfunds on twitter, or tune in to Beyond Funds Market Weekly, Saturdays at 12:30 for further information on the market.

This is Jeff Wareham, with This Week in Business.  visit my blog at www.am980.ca, follow @beyondfunds on twitter, or tune in to Beyond Funds Market Weekly, Saturdays at 12:30 for further information on the market