Currency

The consumer price index in Canada rose a higher-than-expected 1.5 per cent in January. Inflation is now running at its fastest pace in 19 months, but continues to remain below the central bank’s official 2-per-cent target.

The Canadian dollar futures were down this morning but bounced back 0.5 cents on the news to 89.77. The bounce was despite a lower Retail Sales than was expected.

 

Drew Zimmerman

Investment & Commodities/Futures Advisor

604-664-2842 – Direct

604 664 2900 – Main

604 664 2666 – Fax

800 810 7022 – Toll Free

dzimmerman@pifinancial.com

 

Prepare Yourself For Chaos

Posted by Michael Pento via King World News

on Friday, 21 February 2014 15:16

fkbqzuppnrgpzp4hdnneThis Will Cause Panic, Break Down & Then Complete Chaos

Today one of the top economists in the world spoke with King World News about what is going to cause panic, break down & then complete chaos.  He also warned that the global economy is already beginning to implode and that the implosion will only intensify as we move further into 2014.  This is an incredibly powerful interview where Michael Pento, founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies, also reveals what will cause the Fed to become so terrified that they are forced to reverse course and actually begin to increase QE once again.

…continue reading HERE

Crash of 2014: Like 1929, you’ll never hear it coming

Commentary: Disaster strikes like a thief in the night, a Mack truck accelerating

 

Imagine, you’re in the exciting new 21st century. Civilization still exists on Planet Earth. Wall Street’s still in business. But you’re still asking: Why can’t we hear the next crash? Are we deaf? No. The warnings are always long and loud. So why can’t we “hear” them? In fact, it’ll get worse. Here’s why …

Yes, crashes will keep coming: History lesson: The 1929 crash led to the Great Depression. On March 20, 2000 we warned: “Next crash? Sorry, you’ll never hear it coming.” Few listened. The 1990’s dot-com mania led to Wall Street losing $8 trillion in the 2000-2003 bear-market recession. Nothing changed. Another round of warnings roared from 2004 into 2008. Few listened. Another crash. Wall Street lost even more, $10 trillion.

Through much of 2013, pundits warned how bad the market really was. Then in December the Wall Street Journal revealed that after 13 years in negative territory, Wall Street’s “Lost Decade” (which lasted from the 2000 crash to the end of 2013), finally broke even on an inflation-adjusted basis.

….continue reading 

Investors looking for more evidence that a years-long correlation betweencommodity prices and financial markets is well and truly dead have found it this year in two of the industry’s more remote corners.

Fueled by extreme weather conditions in both hemispheres, benchmark U.S. natural gasand coffee futures prices have surged about 50 percent this year, after languishing out of favor for years.

The ferocity of the gains — including a more than 10 percent jump in both markets on Wednesday — has taken traders aback, with some suggesting that momentum traders andhedge funds may be rushing into a fundamental rally late in the game…..continue reading

Quebec’s two main opposition parties said on Thursday they would oppose the separatist Parti Quebecois government’s budget, assuring a spring election, and raising the possibility of an eventual third referendum on independence from Canada.

The Parti Quebecois currently heads a minority government, and has a comfortable lead in the polls. It has signaled it might well call an election on its own in the next two weeks, before it is brought down by a vote on its budget. In either case, an election by mid-April is likely.

If Premier Pauline Marois decided not to call an election on her own, her Parti Quebecois would need the support of either the Quebec Liberals or the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), but both have said they oppose the budget.

“It will be impossible for us to support the budget,” Quebec media quoted Liberal leader Philippe Couillard as saying.

CAQ spokesman Jean-Francois Del Torchio said: “We’ll be voting against if there is a vote.”

However, he added that Marois had pledged not to be defeated in the legislature, suggesting she might call an election.

The Parti Quebecois, which would like to take the mainly French-speaking province out of Canada, won a minority of seats in the 2012 election with just under 32 percent of the vote.

An online panel survey by the polling firm CROP, published on Tuesday by La Presse newspaper, put the Parti Quebecois at 40 percent. The survey had the Quebec Liberals at 34 percent and the Coalition Avenir Quebec at 16 percent.   Continued…

 

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