The new trading week began on Monday, January 25th with shaken investors acutely aware that the expected New Year’s rally had turned into the biggest first 3-week market rout in market history. Was there more to come or was the bottom in hand?

Citing improved growing efficiencies, Canopy Growth (CGC-V) shocked the marijuana industry when the Ontario based grower announced it was cutting the selling  price of its medical marijuana by one-third to just $5.00-a-gram.

McDonald’s Corp. (MCD-N) shareholders’ we loving it after the world’s largest restaurateur announced 4th-quarter financials that handily beat the street’s expectations.

The share price of Tyco International (TYC-N) improved by over 11.6% to US$34.15 on word that U.S. based Johnson Controls (JCI-N) was acquiring its Irish based peer in a merger valued of some US$16.5-billion.

Detour Gold (DGC-T) shares’ rose by almost 8% to $16.30 after the Ontario miner announced an increase in mineral reserves.

Tuesday, January 26th began with a CIBC World Markets report highlighting the fact that nervous Canadians have accumulated about $750-million that is sitting on the sidelines as opposed to being invested in the economy.

Polaris Industries (PII-N) shares’ fell by over 9% to US$72.98 after the recreation company offered up a lower than expected guidance for 2016.

The share price of Trican Well Service (TCW-T) soared up by 84% to $1.38 on word the beleaguered the oilfield service company had agreed to sell its American subsidiary to U.S. based Keane Group in a deal valued at some $352-405-million.

Wednesday, January 27th saw all eyes were on Apple Inc. (AAPL-Q) as its shares’ fell by over 6.5% to US$93.40 after tech giant hinted that the global growth of it very successful iPhone6 may be waning.

Similarly, the price of Boeing Co. (BA-N) stock dropped by almost 9% to US$116.58 after the giant aircraft manufacturer suggested that its 2016 profit would probably be lower than the street’s expectations.

And it was 3-for-3 as the share price of Tupperware Brands (TUP-N) fell by over 14.5% to US$43.49 after the storage container company also lowered its guidance for the year ahead.

But the news wasn’t all bad as the U.S. Labor Department reported that America created 2.65-million new jobs in 2015, following the 2.95-million jobs created in 2014, for the strongest two consecutive years of job growth going back to the late 1990’s.

Resource stocks finally got some positive attention on Thursday, January, 28th after sector bellwether Caterpillar Inc. (CAT-N) actually upped its guidance for the rest of 2016.

Facebook Inc. (FB-N) shares’ rose by almost 14.5% to US$108.13 after the world’s largest interacting site reported record 4th-quarter revenues of US$5.84-billion.

And the price of Under Armour (UA-N) stock surged up by over 22.5%to US$84.07 when the athletic wear company reported much better than expected 4th-quarter financials.

Industry experts reported that a prime time 30-second advertisement for next Sunday’s Super Bowl game has gone up by $600,000 from last year to a current US$5-million.

Equity markets rallied on Friday, January 29th after the Bank of Japan joined many Euro nations and lowered it key overnight lending rate to……below zero.

After a multi-month , $3-million royalty review – the Alberta government decided to leave that province’s oil & gas royalties virtually untouched and stating – “Our biggest challenge….is that our largest market, the United States, is becoming our largest competitor.”

Xerox Corp. (XRX-N) announced it was splitting itself into two separate public companies – one holding its legacy printer and document technology and the other a business process outsourcing unit.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported the American economy grew by 2.4% in 2015.

And und the heading of ‘Tough Crowd’ – Amazon.com (ANZN-Q0 shares’ fell by almost 8% to US$586.10 in spite of the internet based delivery company reporting its most profitable quarter ever.

During the Week – Gold bullion traded up to a new 3-month closing high of               US$1,122-an-ounce.

Andrew Pelller (ASW.B-T) at $26.26, Claude Resources (CRJ-T) at $1.04, and Premium Brands (PBH-T) at $43.00 all set new TSX 52-week trading highs while Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B-T) at $0.87, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT-T) at $20.65 and Domtar Corp. (UFS-T) at $43.31 all established new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – The Dow Industrials gained 2.31% to 16,466, with the S&P 500 Index up by 1.73% to 1,940 and the NASDAQ Exchange higher by 0.50% to 4,614. In Canada, the TSX Composite Index rose by 3.49% to 12,822 and the TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.31% to an even 500.

With Commodities – Gold bullion advanced by 2.01% to US$1,118, with copper up by 3.0% to US$2.06, while crude oil gained 3.01% to US$33.66 and natural gas rose by 7.94% to US$2.31. Overall, the CRB Spot Commodity Index improved by 1.86% to end the week at 384.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.92% against its American counterpart to finish the week at US$0.7148.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell by 2.14-points to end the week at a much more calm level of 20.20.

And Finally – It seems that the biggest group heading south these days is used Canadian autos as according to industry analyst DesRosiers Automotive Consultants – a record 200,000 used Canadian vehicles moved to the United States in 2015, up from 75,000 vehicles move just one year earlier.