The last trading week of the month begins on Monday, April 27th with both the tech heavy NASDAQ Exchange and broad market S&P 500 Index defying the bears by starting the day at all-time highs.

Most of the investment world watched enviously as Apple Inc.’s  (AAPL-Q) stock price rose to a new record high as the world’s largest company’s once again handily beat the street with its 1st-quarter financials with sales of some US$58-billion..

Copper Mountain (CUM-T) shares’ rose by almost 9% to $1.25 when the southern British Columbian copper miner reported better than expected 1st-quarter production figures.

And Surge Energy (SGY-T) shares’ saw a 14.4% lift to $4.29 as the petroleum company announced a $430-million sale of some of its Upper Shaunavon mineral holdings in Saskatchewan.

Governments give us only so many tax breaks, but on Tuesday, April 28th the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada told us that 47% of parents still hadn’t opened a registered education savings plan (RESP) for their children.

Barrick Gold (ABX-T), the world’s largest gold producer joined many of its peers by reporting 1st quarter financials that were well below analysts’ expectations.

Whirlpool Corp. (WHR-N) shares’ fell by over 7% to US$14.20 when the appliance manufacturer lowered its sales outlook for the rest of 2015.

Open Text (OTC-T) shares’ fell by over 6.3% to $62.46 on Wednesday, April 29th when the tech company reported quarterly financials that were well below the market’s expectations.

Conversely, the price of GoPro Inc. (GPRO-Q) stock rose by over 12.5% to US$52.88 when the action camera company reported a 50% increase in 1st quarter revenue.

Meanwhile, the share price of Lumber Liquidators (LL-N) plunged by almost 20% to US$26.76 when the low cost flooring retailer reported a surprising 1st quarter loss to go along with reports that the regulators were looking into the affairs of the company.

And under the heading of ‘Bad News – Good News’ – The bad news  from Statistics Canada was that the average Canadian’s debt load had risen by almost 64% since 1999, the good news was that the value of their assets to support the debt had increased by a 80%.

Thursday, April 30th saw the share price of Glu Mobile (GLUU-Q) surge up by over 25% to US$6.78 on word that Asian gaming giant Tencent Holdings had purchased US$125-million of the gaming company.

Going the other way was Yelp Inc. (YELP-Q) whose shares’ plunged by over 23% to US$11.92 when the online search company reported an unexpected 1st quarter loss.

Friday, May 1st saw the transportation ministers of both Canada and the United States jointly announce new railway tank car safety regulations that included among other things – electronic brakes to replace the current system of manual and air-pressure breaking systems.

Canadians continue to support their automotive industry as DesRosiers Automotive Consultants reported our purchases of new vehicles rose by 5.7% in April to 189,072 units.

LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD-Q) shareholders’ had a bad day as the price of their investment plunged by almost 19% to US$205.21 when the business electronic networking company’s revenue forecast failed to meet the streets expectations.

Two new commodity trends of interest were established during the week with crude oil trading up to a new 5-month closing high of US$58.46-a-barrel, along with copper that established a new 5-month high of US$2.93-a-pound. This helped the Canadian commodity sensitive dollar to rise to a new 3-month high of US$0.8317 and the CRB Spot Commodity Index to reach a new 2-month high of 421.

Chorus Aviation (CHR.B-T) at $6.29, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI.UN-T) at $30.21 and Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ-T) at $5.17 all established new TSX 52-week trading highs, while Great Panther Silver (GPR-T) at $0.63, Lundin Gold (LUG-T) at $3.49, and Wi-Lan Inc. (WIN-T) at $2.96 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – The Dow Industrials fell by 0.31% to 18,024, with the S&P 500 Index down by 0.47% to 2,108 and the NASDAQ Exchange lower by 0.17% to 5,005. To the NHL playoff mad north, the TSX Composite Index was down by 0.44% to 15,340 while the lowly TSX Venture Exchange managed to improve by 0.15% to 699.

Gold bullion rose by 0.17% to US$1,178, with copper up by 6.55% to US$2.93, while crude oil gained 3.83% to US$59.34 and natural gas ahead by 7.60% to US$2.83. Overall, the CRB Spot Commodity Index improved by 1.20% to end the week at 421.

The Canadian dollar rose by 0.15% against the American dollar to finish the week at US$0.8222.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX was 0.41-point higher to end the week a little more nervous level of 12.70.

And Finally – Under the heading of ‘The Times They Are A Changing’ – Statistics Canada reported that the number of common-law couples rose by 4-times higher than the number of married couples in the past 5-years and that 12.6% of children in families are now adopted.