The last trading day of 2018 and the first abbreviated trading week of the New Year began on Monday, December 31^st with most investors keenly aware that the major North American markets were at correction levels not seen in many years. To which technical analysts David Tippin & Ron Meisels commented – “The bulls still need to make a convincing case that the final bottom has been made and that the correction is over.” (For a complete copy of this report please contact rblake@cgf.com.)

The continues scenarios of a partial U.S Government shutdown and ongoing international trade concerns continued into the New Year.

American cannabis company Green Growth Brands ‘GGB-C’ reiterated its intention to take over Canadian marijuana grower Aphria Inc. ‘APHA-T’ in an all-stock deal of some $2.8-billion.

Tuesday, January 1^st had the markets closed to celebrate the beginning of 2019.

Eldorado Gold’s ‘ELD-T’ long suffering shareholders’ may have for a moment thought they were suddenly in the black, but the truth was that the stock started Wednesday, January 2^nd trading on a 1-for-5 consolidated bases.

The price of General Electric ‘GE-N’ shares’ rose by over 6^% to US$8.05 after one of 2018’s worst performing stocks finally had a New Years’ rally.

Tesla Inc. ‘TSLA-Q’ shares’ fell by almost 7^% to US$310.12 after the electric car company’s 4^th-quarter production figures failed to live up to the company’s previous predictions. The company also announced a $2,000 per unit price reduction designed to offset a similar drop in federal tax credits for electric vehicles.

Thursday, January 3^rd saw the price of Apple Inc. ‘AAPL-Q’ shares’ plunge by 10^% to US$142.19 after the giant electronics company warned of a drop in Chinese iPhone sales.

Delta Airlines ‘DAL-N’ stock fell by almost 9^% to US$45.61 after the giant U.S. carrier lowered its revenue forecast for the second time in 2-months.

The price of Celgene Corp. ‘CELG-N- shares’ surged up by over 20.5^% to US$80.43 after the giant pharmaceutical company agreed to be purchased by fellow company Bristol-Myers Squibb ‘BMY-N’ in a cash & stock deal of some US$74-billion.

Friday, January 4^th began with Statistics Canada reporting that the country added 9,300 new jobs in December bringing the unemployment rate down by 0.1% to a 42-year low of 5.6^%. Further south – the U.S. Labor Department reported their economy produced a much better than expected 312,000 new jobs in December, although their unemployment rate rose by 0.2^% to 3.9^%.

Petroleum industry analyst Baker Hughes ‘BHGE-N’ reported that the number of active American drilling rigs fell by 8-rigs last week to 1,075 active drilling rigs. Across the line – the number of active Canadian drilling rigs rose by 6-rigs to 76 active drilling rigs.

Hudson’s Bay Co. ‘HBC-T’ shares surged up by 18^% to $8.52 on word that company Chairman Richard Baker had arranged to buy a large block of the retailer’s stock for a 28.6^% premium of $9.25-a-share.

During the Week – Gold bullion rose to a new 6-month high of US$1,296-an-ounce.

Dundee Precious Metals ‘DPM-T’ at $3.78, Mitek Systems ‘MTK-T’ at $11.27 and Nevsun Resources ‘NSU-t’ at $6.00 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Chartwell Retirement Residences ‘CSH.U-T’ at $13.83, Spark Power Group ‘SPG-T’ at $2.40 and Tervita Corporation ‘TEV-t-T’ at $6.29 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials gained 1.61^% to 23,433, with the S&P 500 ahead by 1.85^% to 2,532 and the NAASDAQ up by 2.34^% to 6,739. In Canada – the TSX Composite rose by 1.44^% to 14,427 and the TSX Venture improved by 6.34^% to 587.

With Commodities – gold bullion gained 0.23^% to US$1,286, while copper dropped by 1.12^% to US$2.65 as crude oil surged up by 5.80^% to US$47.96 but natural gas plummeted by 7.62^% to US$2.91 Overall, the CRB Spot Commodity Index gained 0.98^% to end the week at 413.

The Canadian dollar rose by 1.98^% against its American counterpart to finish the week at US$0.7476.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell by 6.96-points to end the week at a much more calmer level of 21.38.

And Finally – UBS reported that the world created 199 new billionaires last year with a collective value of US$8.9-trillion.