The Week of November 7^th to November 13^th, 2016  “A Brief Look Back Into Tomorrow”

The new trading week began on Monday, November 7^th with investors everywhere looking for some definitive sign as to who will win the following day’s  American Presidential election.

Concordia International (CXR-T) shares’ plunged by almost 37^% to a record low of $2.70 after the pharmaceutical company failed miserably in meeting analysts’ expectations with its 3rd-quarter financials and worse yet – withdrew its forward looking forecasts.

The price of Blue Nile (NILE-Q) soared up by over 33^% to US$40.25 after the online jeweller announced it was being taken over by two private equity groups in an all-cash deal of some US$500-million.

Sysco (SYY-N) shares’ rose by almost 10^% to US$52.73 after North America’s largest food distributor beat the street with its 1st-quarter financials.

The S&P 500 gained over 46-points for its best day in 4-months after the U.S. FBI cleared Hillary Clinton of any further email impropriates.

Tuesday, November 8^thwas presidential election day in the United States with the markets quietly keeping the status quo while waiting for the first ballots to be counted later in the evening.

The Mining Sector Performance Report revealed that the value of Canadian mineral production, (less the oilsands), totaled $42.8-billion in 2015.

In a sudden move to try and stop corruption and counterfeiting of its currency – India announced it was immediately taking its 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes out of service.

Hertz Global (HTZ-N) shares’ plunged by 22.5^% to US$27.70 after the vehicle rental company reported less than stellar 3rd-quarter financials.

And then the counting started and many were shocked to see that it was much closer that the pollsters had predicted and that Donald Trump had beaten out Hillary Clinton on the race to the Whitehouse.

Many of the marijuana stocks rose on Wednesday, November 9^th as Arkansas, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada and North Dakota all voted to legalize the recreational use of the drug.

While on a similar note, the price of Canadian Zeolite (CNZ-V) soared up by over 29.5^% to $0.79 after the company announced expansion of its natural zeolite to several marijuana growers in Canada and the United States.

American private prison stocks Geo Group (GEO-N) and Corrections Corp. (CXW-N) also rallied by over 21^% and 43^% respectively as it was thought that a Trump administration would be more favourable to the private prison industry.

Thursday, November 10^th saw the effects of the Trump victory and higher interest rates ahead start to gain some traction as precious metals issues such as Silver Wheaton (SLW-T) plunged by over 16^% to $27.01 after filing a 3rd-quarter report that was below consensus estimates.

On the upside – insurance companies Manulife Financial (MFC-T) and Sun Life Financial (SLF-T) rose by almost 10^% to $21.94 and $50.90 respectively after reporting 3rd-quarter financials that were ahead of analysts’ expectations.

And Taser International (TASR-Q) shares’ rose by over 10^% to US$26.12 on after the company reported a substantial increase in 3rd-quarter body armour, security camera and stun gun sales.

Baker Hughes reported on Friday, November 11^th that the number of active American oil drilling rigs increased by two last week the bring the total number of active rigs up to 452 – ahead of the low of 316 set earlier this year but still well down from the record 1,609 rigs that were drilling in October, 2014.

Hudson’s Bay (HBC-T) shares’ fell by over 10.5^% to $14.80 after Canada’s iconic retailer’s 3^rd-quarter report showed a decline in same store sales.

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA-Q) shares’ soared up by almost 29.5^% to US$87.69 after the gaming chip company 3^rd-quarter report revealed a greater than expected increase in revenue growth.

During the Week – the TSX Venture Exchange fell to a 4^1/2-month low of 728 while copper rose to a 16-month high of US$2.54-a-pound and the Dow Industrials closed a new record high of 18,848. With currencies – the Canadian dollar fell to a 9-month low of US$0.7383.

Cargojet Inc. (CJT-T) at $48.22, Premium Brands (PBH-T) at $68.28 and Wajax Corp. (WJX-T) at $22.73 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Empire Co. (EMP.A-T) at $17.78, Primero Mining (P-T) at $1.21 and Ten Peaks Coffee (TPK-T) at $6.09 all sank to new        52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials rose by 5.37^% to 18,848, with the S&P 500 Index up by 3.79^% to 2,164 and the NASDAQ Exchange also ahead by 3.79^% to 5,237. To the glad our elections aren’t so contentious north – the TSX Composite Index gained 0.32^% to 14,555 while the TSX Venture Exchange lost 4.46^% to 728.

With Commodities – gold bullion lost 6.21^% to US$1,224, with copper up by 10.57^% to US$2.51, while crude oil fell by 0.18^% to US$43.99 and natural gas dropped by 2.38^% to 2.87. Overall the CRB Spot Commodity Index rose by 1.97^% to finish the week at 413.

The Canadian dollar dropped by 1.02^% against the American dollar to end the week at US$0.7383.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX dropped by 8.34-points to finish the week at a much calmer level of 14.17.

And Finally – While the environmental movement would seem to have crippled the North American coal fired electrical industry – in Asia things are different – as the Institute for Energy Research reported that China is building one coal-fired power plant every 7 to        10-days while Japan has plans for 43-coal fired power projects to replace its shuttered nuclear units.