The new trading week began on Monday, April 23^rd with most investors feeling somewhat confident now that all of the North American major markets were back on positive track.

Katanga Mining ‘KAT-T’ shares’ plunged by 49^% to just $0.91 after the Democratic Republic of Congo moved to have the company’s Kamoto Copper Co. joint venture with the state dissolved.

The price of The Stars Group ‘TSGI-T’ stock surged up by over 15^% to $43.02 after the Canadian online gaming company announced it was acquiring U.K. based gamer Sky Betting

& Gaming in a cash & stock deal of some $4.7-billion.

McDermott International ‘MDR-N’ shares’ also surged up by almost 16^% to US$7.01 on word that Luxembourg based Subsea 7 had offered a competing bid of US$2.1-billion for the engineering and construction services company.

Tuesday, April 24^th had the markets seemed to fall in unison on word that the interest rate on the all-important U.S. 10-year treasury note had reached the pinitol multi-year high interest rate of 3^%.

Mitel Networks ‘MNW-T’ went against the grain as its stock price rose by over 9.5^% to $14.29 on word the telecommunications company was being taken private by Searchlight Capital Partners in an all-cash deal of some US$2-billion.

The price of Freeport-McMoran ‘FCX-N’ shares’ dropped by 14.5^% to US$16.08 after the Indonesian based copper miner lowered its sales forecast for the remainder of 2018.

It may because of the Donald Trump effect but for whatever reason – Twitter Inc. ‘TWTR-Q’ announced on Wednesday, April 25^th that the social networking company had turned from a 1^st-quarter loss of US$61.6-million in 2017 to a US$61-million profit in the 1^st-quarter of 2018.

The price of Boeing Co. ‘BA‘ stock rose by over 4^% to US$342.86 on after the aerospace giant reported it sold a record 763 aircraft in 2017 and better yet – raised its forecasts for the rest of 2018.

Texas Instruments ‘TXN-N’ shares’ climbed by almost 5^% to US$103.00 after the electronics company beat the streets’ expectations with its 1^st-quarter financials.

Conversely, the price of Wynn Resorts ‘WYNN-N’ fell by 5.5^% after the casino company reported an unexpected 1^st-quarter loss.

Thursday, April 27^th had Ford Motor Co. ‘F-N’ announce the iconic automaker was phasing out North American production of traditional sedan passenger vehicles, save for very popular Ford Mustang, to focus on more profitable F-series pick-up trucks and SUVs.

Husky Energy ‘HSE-T’ shares’ fell by 8^% to $17.54 after a fire broke out at its refinery in Superior, Wisconsin.

The price of Advanced Micro Devices ‘AMD-N’ surged up by 14^% to US$11.06 after the chipmaker reported better than expected 1^st-quarter financials.

Despite all the recent bad press – the price of Facebook Inc. ‘FB-N’ stock rose by 9.5^% to US$1275.12 after the social networking company reported a 49^% rise in year-over-year 1^st-quarter revenue.

Friday, April 27^th had petroleum analyst Baker Hughes ‘BHGE-N’ report that the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 8-rigs in the past week to 1,021 active drilling rigs while the number of active Canadian drill rigs fell by 8-rigs to 85 active drilling rigs.

Cameco Corp. ‘CCO-T’ showed that its cost cutting program is working as the Canadian uranium giant reported its first quarterly profit after losing money in the past 5-quarters.

The price of Detour Gold ‘DGC-T’ plunged by over 30^% to $10.05 after the northern Ontario gold miner dramatically lowered its production guidance for the year ahead.

The TSX blew a fuse around midday and shut down for the rest of the trading day.

During the Week – the price of crude oil rose to a new 3½-year high of US$68.64-a-barrel and the CRB Spot Commodity Index reached a 10-month high of 447.

Excelsior Mining ‘MIN-T’ at $1.51, Parex Resources ‘PXT-T’ at $22.31 and West Fraser Timber ‘WFT-T’ at $95.10 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Enbridge Inc. ‘ENB-T’ at $37.36, Morguard Corp. ‘MRC-T’ at $161.00 and Transalta Renewables ‘RNW-T’ at $11.38 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials fell by 0.62^% to 24,311, while the S&P 500 was unchanged at 2,670 and the NASDAQ lost 0.36^% to 7,120. Up north – the TSX Composite Index gained 1.19^% to 15,669 and the TSX Venture dropped by 2.61^% to 784.

With Commodities – gold bullion fell by 1.05^% to US$1,324, with copper down by 2.53^% to US$3.08, as crude oil was 0.45^% lower at US$68.09 and natural gas was unchanged at US$2.77. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodity Index dropped by 0.90^% to end the week at 442.

The Canadian dollar lost 0.56^% against its southern neighbor to finish the week at US$0.7792.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX dropped by another 1.48-points to end the week at a little less nervous level off 15.40.

And Finally – In a new world of rising interest rates it was of interest to note that a recent MNP survey found that 33^% to respondents felt they may be pushed into bankruptcy due to rising interest rates.