The first trading week of the Trump era began in Monday, January 23^rd with the major North American markets still hovering below their recent highs while leaving investors with a multitude of reasons why they could go either way from here.

Cordoba Minerals (CDB-V) share price soared up by almost 38^% to $1.29 after the explorer reported encouraging drill hole gold/copper/silver & zinc assays from its San Matias project in Colombia.

The price of Resverlogix Corp. (RVX-T) surged up by over 28^% to $2.18 after the company released positive phase I results for patients being treated for severe kidney impairment.

McDonald’s Corp. (MCD-N) not only has a feature movie about its origins (The Founder) currently playing in theaters but the original fast food restaurant chain reported 4^th-quarter financials that were in line with analysts’ expectations.

With one stroke of a pen on Tuesday, January 24^th, Donald Trump wiped out 8-years of Obama led negativism towards the petroleum & pipeline industries as the U.S President signed an executive order to begin construction of the cross border Keystone XL pipeline and U.S. based Dakota Access pipeline.

Meanwhile FedEx Corp. (FDX-N) CEO Fred Smith reminded the new protectionist U.S. administration that – “About 40-million Americans, or 27^% of their economy, make their living in trade. Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers aren’t in the United States – they’re elsewhere around the world.”

First Global Data (FGD-V) shares’ surged up by over 19^% to $0.31 on word that many Indian cinema and food courts were going to be using the company’s VPayQwik mobile payment app.

Milestones come in many forms and Wednesday, January 15^th had the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average rise above 20,000 for the first time in its history.

And further to that note, Dow component Boeing Co. (BA-N) reported 4^th-quarter financials that were ahead of the streets’ expectations.

WGL Holdings (WGL-N) shares rose by 2.59^% to US$80.82 after the Washington based utility agreed to a US$6.4-billion takeover by Alberta’s AltaGas Ltd. (ALA-T).

Electronic shopping continues to grow as EBay Inc. (EBAY-Q) reported a 3.1^% increase in quarterly revenue during this recent holiday season.

Buoyant markets suddenly paused on Thursday, January 26^th after U.S. President Donald Trump made good on his most contentious election promise and ordered construction to begin on ‘The Great Wall’ along their Mexican border.

Methanex Corp. (MX-T) shares’ rose by almost 10^% to $67.44 after the methanol producer reported better than expected 4^th-quarter financials.

IKEA Canada moved further into the clean energy space after the giant home supply retailer bought the Wintering Hills wind farm in Alberta from operators Teck Resources (TECK.B-T) and TransAlta Corp. (TA-T).

The price of Mattel Inc. (MAT-N) stock fell by almost 18^% to US$25.95 after the giant toy maker’s 4^th-quarter financials failed to live up to analysts’ expectations.

Brick & mortar retailing took another knife on Friday, January 27^th when HMV Canada announced they were closing all 102 of their music stores across the country.

Canada’s Finance Department reported that the Liberal government’s federal deficit was $12.7-billion for the first 8-months of the current fiscal year – compared to a $1-billion surplus for the same period with the Conservatives just one year earlier.

Petroleum industry analyst Baker Hughes (BHI-N) report that the American active oil & gas drilling rig count rose by another 18-rigs last week to bring their total number of active rigs up to 712 active drilling rigs.

Power Metals (PWM-V) shares’ surged up by 22^% to $0.36 on word the company had acquired an oilfield lithium brine project in Alberta.

During the Week – The TSX Venture Exchange rose to a new 4-month high of 810, while the TSX Composite Index reached a new 2^1/2-year high of 15,644. Across the line, the NASDAQ, S&P 500 and the Dow Industrials climbed to new respective record highs of 5,661, 2,298 and 20,101. Meanwhile, the VIX dropped to a new 2^1/2-year low of 10.58.

Bank of Montreal (BMO-T) at $101.15, Cogeco Communications (CCA-T) at $72.88 and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT-T) at $26.62 all reached new TSX 52-week trading highs while Aritzia Inc. (ATZ-T) at $16.22, Oryx Petroleum (OXC-T) at $0.39 and TeraGo Inc. (TGO-T) at $4.15 all slumped to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials rose by 1.35^% to 20,094, with the S&P 500 Up by 1.06^% to 2,295 and the NASDAQ ahead by 0.11^% to 5,661. In Canada, the TSX Composite Index advanced by 0.18^% to 15,576 and the TSX Venture Exchange improved by 1.50^% to 810.

With Commodities – Gold bullion fell by 1.24^% to US$1,193, with copper up by 0.23^% to US$2.69, while crude oil eased by 0.17^% to US$53.17 as natural gas gained 4.98^% to US$3.37. Overall, the CRB Spot Commodity Index remained unchanged for the week at 433.

The Canadian dollar rose by 1.31^% against its southern neighbour to end the week at US$0.7605.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX dropped by another 0.96-point to finish the week at a very calm level of 10.58.

And Finally – As the United States seems to be moving to further restrict immigration – Statistics Canada estimates that fully half of this country’s population will be made up of immigrants by only……now wait for it….. 2036.