The new North American trading week began on Monday, December 10^th with the knowledge that Canada had arrested a Chinese corporate official on behalf of the American government.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation announced that the country’s new housing starts rose in November to a better than expected seasonally adjusted 215,941 units.

Badger Daylighting ‘BAD-T’ shares’ rose by 7^% to $33.59 after the tunneling company announced charges to its board of directors.

The price of Tervita Corporation ‘TEV-T’ stock fell by 9.5^% to $6.86 after the oil patch service company announced a more conservative operations outlook than expected for the year ahead.

Tuesday, December 11^th saw Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announce her province was looking for expressions of interest in building more petroleum refineries as a way to help firm up oil prices in her land-locked province.

Winter parka manufacturer Canada Goose Holdings ‘GOOS-T’ shares’ fell by 1.4^% to $73.98 on worries that the ill will from the recent arrest and detention Huawei Technologies’ CFO Meng Wanzhou might spread to other companies doing business in China.

Ero Copper ‘ERO-T’ stock rose by almost 13^% to $10.74 after the mineral development company reported a positive quarterly exploration update for its Pilar, Vermelhos and Surubim projects in Bahia State, Brazil.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. further reported on Wednesday, December 12^th that the number of new mortgages fell by 11.9^% in the 2^nd-quarter as compared to the same quarter one year ago to 205,000 new mortgages.

Finning International ‘FTT-T’ announced it was diversifying into fuel distribution with the purchase of 4ReFuel – one pf Canada’s premier on-site refueling companies – in an all cash deal of some $260-million.

Synergy Pharmaceuticals ‘SGYP-Q’ shares’ plunged by 53^% to $0.16 after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Thursday, December 13^th saw Altagas Ltd. ‘ALA-T’ shares rise by almost 10^% to $15.05 after the beleaguered natural gas supplier took some pressure off its balance sheet by selling a hydroelectric powerplant for $1.39-billion and cutting its monthly dividend by 56^% to $0.08.

Detour Gold ‘DGC-T’ stock rose by 0.5^% to $10.92 after a John A. Paulson hedge fund led proxy battle managed to oust five of eight established directors of the Timmons, Ontario based gold producer.

The price of Empire Ltd. ‘EMP.A-T’ shares’ gained over 10.5^% top $28.51 after the Safeway/Sobeys grocer handily beat the streets’ expectations with its 3^rd-quarter financials.

Friday, December 14^th had Statistics Canada report that the average Canadian’s household credit market debt as a proportion of disposable income rose by another 0.1^% in the 3^rd-quarter to a seasonally adjusted record 177.5^%.

Petroleum sector consultant Baker Hughes ‘BHGE-N’ reported that the number of active American drilling rigs fell by 4-rigs last week to 1,071 active drilling rigs. Up north – the number of Canadian active drilling rigs dropped by 12-rigs to 174 active drilling rigs.

Costco Wholesale ‘COST-N’ shares’ fell by over 8.5^% to US$207.06 after the giant big box merchandizer reported a drop in 3^rd-quarter profit margins.

The price of Johnson & Johnson ‘JNJ-N’ stock dropped by 10^% to US$133.00 on reports the giant pharmaceutical new for years that asbestos was an ingredient in their leading baby powder product.

Wheaton Precious Metals ‘WPM-T’ shares’ surged up by over 14^% to $25.34 after the precious metal streaming company reached an agreement with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on the taxation of foreign income.

During the Week – The TSX Venture Exchange fell to a new 1¾ -year low of 555 and the Canadian dollar dropped to a new 1½ -year low of US$0.7464.

Badger Daylighting ‘BAD-T’ at $33.59, Kirkland Lake Gold ‘KL-T’ at $32.71 and SSR Mining ‘SSRM-T’ at $15.25 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs, while Bank of Montreal ‘BMO-T’ at $89.90, BlackBerry Ltd. ‘BB-T’ at $10.18 and TORC Oil & Gas ‘TOG-T’ at $4.14 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials fell by 1.18^% to 24,101, with the S&P 500 off by 1.25^% to 2,600 and the NASDAQ down by 0.83^% to 6,911. Further north – the TSX Composite dropped by 1.35^% to 14,595 and the TSX Venture lost 2.97^% to 555.

With Commodities – gold bullion fell by 0.96^% to US$1,241, while copper was unchanged at US$2.76, as crude oil dropped by 2.17^% to US$51.47 and natural gas plunged by 19.60^% to US$3.61. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodity Index fell by 0.48^% to finish the week at 416.

The Canadian dollar dropped by 0.48^% against its American counterpart to end the week at US$0.7470.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell by 1.60-points to finish the week at a little more optimistic level of 21.63.

And Finally – Those environmentalists who feel that global electrification will eventually rid the world of crude oil may want to heed an International Energy Agency estimate that petrochemicals will make up a third of the growth in world oil demand by 2030 and nearly 50^% of demand growth by 2050.

And Finally, Finally – the Week is taking a holiday season break. If all goes as planned this publication will once again reappear on or about Monday, January 7^th, 2019. A seasonal best to all….