The new trading week began on Monday, January 18th with investors in shock in that the optimism of the New Year had turned into the worst opening two-week rout in market history. The markets were quiet as the American exchanges were closes for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Canadian Oil Sands (COS-T) announced it had finally agreed to be acquired by Suncor Energy (SU-T) after the later upped its all-stock takeover bid by another 30% to            $$4.24-billion.

Gluskin Sheff & Associates (GS-T) shares’ fell by almost 10% to $16.42 after the money manager failed to meet analysts’ expectations with its 2nd-quarter financials.

The share price of Petrowest Corp. (PRW-T) stock rose by over 14.5% to $0.47 when the civil infrastructure company delivered 2016 guidance that was above the street’s expectations.

Tuesday, January 19th began with Statistics Canada reporting that at the end of 2015 the average Canadian owed a record $171 or 171% on every $100 of their disposable income,

Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B-T) started the day on a positive note when the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer announced that its newly certified CSeries 100-130 seat airliner was in full production with the first planes slated to be delivered to SWISS Air in the second quarter.

The shares’ of Progressive Waste Solutions (BIN-T) rose by over 10.5% to $37.38 on word that American based Waste Connections (WCN-N) would take a 70% interest in its Canadian counterpart.

Crude oil is still moving south as the U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that in early January Canadian crude oil exports the United States are now at a record      3.4-million barrels a day.

The Bank of Canada gave things a thorough looking over and in spite of all of world’s uncertainties decided on Wednesday, January 20th to leave their key benchmark interest rate steady at 0.5%.

The shareholders of Capstone Entertainment (CSE-T) were please to watch their investment surge up by over 37% to $4.67 on word that London based iCON Infrastructure was taking over the Toronto based alternative energy company in an all-cash deal of some             $480-million.

Netflix Inc. (NFLX-Q) announced that they added 4.04-million new subscribers in the 4th-quarter to end 2015 with a worldwide subscriber base of ….now wait for it…74.8-millon subscribers.

On Thursday, January 21st Statistics Canada reported that the country’s retail sale rose by 1.7% in November and that the annual inflation rate rose by 0.6% in December to 1.6%.

South of the border, the National Association of Realtors reported that American existing home sales rose by a record 14.7% in December to an annualized 5.46-million units.

After 3-days of extreme losses, oil stocks and the broader market rally as the price of crude oil suddenly turned and rose above the critical level of US$30-a-barrel level.

On Friday, January 22nd technical analysts David Tippin & Ron Meisels commented – “The bears have succeeded – in the short time – in turning the market dynamic upside down. “Buy the dips” has been replaced with “sell the rallies”. They are growing in confidence, but the jury is still out as to whether the bearish forces have completely turned the overall market tide.” (For a full copy of this report contact ‘rod.blake@canaccord.com’)

Petroleum analyst Baker Hughes reported that the number of active American oil & gas drilling rigs fell by another 13 last week to just 637 rigs. This time a year ago the number of active oil & gas drilling rigs stood at……now wait for it…….1,633.

The shares’ of Horizon North Logistics (HNL-T) surged up by over 34% after the company received a number on analyst upgrades.

During the Week – The price of crude oil fell to a new 13-year low of US$28.80-a-barrel and that seemed to affect all markets as the Dow dropped to a new 2-year low of 15,767, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ set new 1^1/2-Year lows of 1,859 and 4,471 respectively. Meanwhile the TSX Composite Index fell to a new 2^1/2-year low of 11,843 and the TSX Venture Exchange dropped to a new record low of 474.

AGT Food and Ingredients (AGT-T) at $37.70, Metro Inc. (MRU-T) at $41.80  and Molson Coors Canada (TPX.A-T) at $126.34 all established new TSX 52-week trading highs while Canadian Tire Corp. (CTC.A-T) at $101.53, Imperial Metals (III-T) at $4.11 and Royal Bank of Canada (RY-T) at $64.95 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – The Dow Industrials rose by 0.66% to 16,094, with the S&P 500 Index up by 1.44% to 1,907 and the NASDAQ Exchange ahead by 2.30% to 4,591. On the north side of the border the TSX Composite Index advanced by 2.63% to 12,390 while the lowly TSX Venture Exchange fell by another 1.0% to 484.

With Commodities – Gold bullion gained 0.64% to US$1,098, while the price of copper rose by 3.09% to US$2.00, with crude oil gaining 5.56% to US$32.08 and natural gas up by 1.90% to US$2.14. Overall the CRB Spot Commodities Index edged higher by 0.27% to end the week at 378.

The Canadian dollar rallied by 2.81% against the American dollar to finish the week at US$0.7070.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX dropped by 4.59-points to end the week at a much calmer level of 22.43.

And Finally – Bloomberg reported that the combined wealth of the world’s sixty-two wealthiest people is about equal to the combined wealth of the bottom 50% of the world’s population.