The new trading week begins on Monday, July 14th with investors watching to see if the expected parade of second quarter earnings would once again turn the direction of the markets from the lower left to the upper right.

And Citigroup Inc. (C-N) came through as if on cue, driving the U.S. markets higher when the giant American banker reported stronger than expected second quarter profits.

Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B-T) put quieted some of their critics when the aerospace & rail transportation corporation announced they had fifty new orders for their late stage  CSeries 100-plus seat commercial aircraft.

The share price of Fission Uranium (FCU-V) rallied when the uranium developer once again reported world class U3O8 drill hole assays from its Patterson Lake South property in southeast area of Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin.

We’ve indicated before that the junior gold sector finally seemed to be getting more attention and Kaminak Gold (KAM-V) proved us right when the share price of the junior gold explorer/developer surged up by almost 33% to $1.05 on word it had secured a $13,520,000 financing with mining heavyweight Ross Beaty and others.

Janet Yellen put a damper on the market on Tuesday, July 15th when the U.S Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman cautioned that certain sectors, namely biotechnology, social media and small caps, were trading at stretched valuations.

Rockwood Holdings (ROC-N) shares’ rallied by almost 10% to US$83.14 when it was announced that the world’s largest producer of lithium products had agreed to a        US$6.2-billion cash & stock buyout from specialty chemical company Albemarle (ALB-N).

And two smoking buddies made a similar deal when tobacco giant Reynolds American    (RAI-N)(Camel cigarettes) announced it was acquiring like company Lorillard (LO-N) (Newport cigarettes)in a cash & stock deal of some US$27.4-billion.

The markets bounced back on Wednesday, July 16th when China reported its economy grew in the second quarter at a better year-over-year pace of 7.5%.

Technical analysts Olaf Sztaba & Ron Meisels – “This bull market has shown its determination to march on and has refused to take any meaningful break. While its longer-term upside trajectory cannot be disputed, this relentless pursuit of new highs may eventually leave this bull market gasping for air.”

The Canadian Real Estate Association reported that, skewed higher by increases in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver, the price of an average Canadian home rose by 6.9% in the past year to June to a new all-time high of $413,215.

The gyrating week of trading continued on Thursday, July 17th when the markets plummeted on word that a Malaysian passenger jet had been shot down over the militarily compromised eastern Ukraine.

Canada’s largest grocery and drug store chain, Loblaw Companies (L-T) announced that Executive Chairman Galen G. Weston would also be taking over as President of the company that his family controls.

Microsoft Corp. (MFST-Q) announced that after unifying Nokia Devices and Services into its corporate structure it was now in the position to cut 14% of its 125,000 person workforce.

The markets moved higher again on Friday, July 17th when there were no immediate military repercussions from the downing of Malaysian Airlines fight MH17.

Pine Cliff Energy (PNE-V) shares’ rose by over 25% to $1.73 on word the petroleum explorer had purchased $100-million of natural gas production in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Inflation seems to be creeping back into the Canadian economy as Statistics Canada reported that the country’s Consumer Price Index or CPI rose by another 0.1% in June to an annualized two-year high of 2.4%.

New intermediate and long-term index closing highs were again established during the week with the VIX surging up to a new multi-month high of 14.88 and the TSX setting a new record closing high of 15,267.

Lundin Mining (LUN-T) at $6.57, Royal Bank of Canada (RY-T) at $80.14 and TransCanada Corp. (TRP-T) at $55.05 all established new TSX 52-week trading highs during the week while Le Chateau (CTU.A-T) at $1.57, Ivanhoe Energy (IE-T) at $0.26 and Norbord Inc.    (NBD-T) at $23.86 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – The Dow Industrials gained 0.92% to 17,100, with the S&P 500 Index up by 0.51% to 1,978 and the NASDAQ Exchange ahead on the week by 0.39% to 4,432. To the summer doldrums north, the TSX Composite Index was up on the week by 0.92% to 15,267 and the TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.05% to 1,012.

Gold bullion fell by 2.08% to US$1,311, while crude oil gained 1.56% to US$101.76, as natural gas lost 4.35% to US$3.96 and copper dropped by 2.45% to US$3.19. Overall, the CRB Spot Commodities Index eased by 0.49% to 489.

The Canadian dollar was down by a marginal 0,01% against its American cousin to US$0.9313.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX ended the week up by 0.06-point to a slightly more nervous level of 12.14.

And Finally – With figures that may through some doubt on the strength of their marriages, a recent RBC poll finds that 68% of soon-to-be-retired Canadians, aged fifty and older, have not yet discussed their retirement plans with their significant other.

And Finally, Finally – As summer is fully upon us, The Week is taking a three-week break to recharge our batteries. If all goes as planned we will once again be publishing on or about Monday, August 18th. We hope you thoroughly enjoy your summer holidays…