Tomorrow’s Headlines Market Snapshot
Canadian stocks fell for the fourth straight session, hurt by persistent weakness
in heavyweight energy and financial shares. The S&P/TSX Composite index
added to Wednesday's 260-point drop, sliding another 59.07 points, or 0.5%,
to 12363.05. Declines led advances 864 to 796, preliminary data showed. The
blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 fell 4.44 points, or 0.6%, to 708.66.
Canada's government bond market posted substantial gains again on after the
Bank of Japan said it was ramping up its program to buy bonds and the
2012 after the engineering giant’s for-
European Central Bank indicated monetary policy in the euro zone will likely
remain accommodative. Canada's two-year bond yield was at 0.990%
Thursday, from 0.995% Wednesday, according to electronic trading platform
CanDeal. The 10-year bond yielded 1.784%, from 1.831%. Bond yields move
The Canadian dollar gained ground, carried higher in part by investors selling
the Japanese yen against the loonie after the Bank of Japan signaled it would
expand its asset purchases. The U.S. dollar is at C$1.0125 Thursday, from
C$1.0145 late Wednesday, according to data provider CQG.
OilCrude-oil futures prices slid for a second day, hit by rising U.S. oil supplies and
new worries about economic recovery in the world's biggest oil consumer.
Light, sweet crude oil for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange
fell $1.19 to settle at $93.26 a barrel, a two-week low. Crude fell intraday to a
low of $92.12 a barrel, down $5.68, or 5.8%, from the session high of $97.80
hit Monday. The U.S. benchmark shed $3.93, or 4%, over the past two trading
Gold futures ended slightly lower, paring earlier losses as the dollar weakened
and helped cushion gold's declines. The most actively traded contract, for June
delivery, settled down $1.10, or 0.1%, at $1,552.40 a troy ounce on the Comex
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
gold holdings at 103,100 ounces. The finance department reported that
Copyright Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
to them. We react to flyers.” When Wal-Mart Canada
Tomorrow’s Headlines
swung open its doors in 1994, it did so without flyers, Mr.
Gray said. “And a year later they started using them.”Target’s circular is the latest in the discount retailer’s
advertising charm offensive-which began with a down-
town Toronto pop-up store (with exclusive Jason Wu cloth-
ing) more than a year ago. More recently, the push has
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International said it will launch a
included television and online commercials, billboards and
generic version of its Zovirax ointment after Mylan
wrapping up Toronto streetcars in advertising.
received approval to launch a similar product, a move that
is expected to cut the specialty-pharmaceutical compa-
ny’s earnings this year. Valeant’s Zovirax ointment is indi-
cated for use against herpes viruses. Mylan’s product is
Canada’s federal police force confirmed the names of two
“While the timing of a generic approval was always uncer-
Canadians, whose remains were found at the site of an
tain, this was not unforeseen and we were prepared,”
Algerian gas plant attack in January, and who are suspect-
Chief Executive J. Michael Pearson said. Valeant added it
ed to have been involved in the attack.
didn’t include the event in its budget expectations and
expects it hurt per-share cash earnings by 30 cents to 40
Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police identified the
two Canadians as Xristos Katsiroubas and Ali Medlej, both
of London, Ontario. Attempts to contact family members
However, the company noted that several product acquisi-
or their representatives haven’t been successful this week.
tions, the repricing of its term-loan debt and other events
that have occurred since it provided financial guidance in
The names had previously been identified by people famil-
January will likely mitigate the impact of the generic
iar with the probe, but Canadian officials hadn’t until now
There’s an eerie calm at the heart of the anxiety storm sur-
Canada can find money to fund risky ventures in the mining
rounding Canada’s housing market. While sales are slump-
and energy sectors, but is a dunce when it comes to con-
ing sharply in many areas, prices held up. In fact, prices
necting capital with risky projects in other sectors, accord-
went up slightly in the first quarter of this year, according
ing to a report from the Conference Board of Canada.
to the latest survey by Royal LePage, Canada’s largest real
The financing techniques used by resource companies
need to be adopted in non-traditional areas, such as
The national average price of a standard two-story home
biotech and clean energy, the independent, Ottawa-based
increased 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year,
the survey says. The national average price of a detached
Canada’s inability to find capital for smaller, start-up style
bungalow rose 2.4%, while the average price of a standard
businesses is a chronic problem. And the issue came into
focus again after the Canadian government released its
latest budget, which investment industry groups criticized
Royal LePage says an unprecedented combination of
for failing to provide any significant new measures to bol-
essentially flat - or in some regions decreasing - house
ster the country’s venture-capital industry.
prices, inexpensive mortgages and the confidence
brought on by an improving economy has created in a
“unique” residential real estate environment.
Lululemon’s Product Chief To ExitLululemon Athletica said that its top product executive will
leave the company, just weeks after the apparel maker
pulled some of its yoga pants from store shelves for being
Target dropped its first flyers on Canadian doorsteps, a
Lululemon also said its testing procedures were inadequate
glossy, 28-page, sale-laden greeting card that the retailer
and contributed to the transparency problem, which it has
says marks the official “grand opening” of its first 24
said could cost the company as much as $67 million this year.
Canadian stores on Friday. Flyers? In the age of Twitter
The yoga-gear maker said Chief Product Officer Sheree
Waterson will step down on April 15. She is responsible for
Turns out, Canadians still like them. David Ian Gray,
design, merchandise management and global production.
founder and retail market strategist at DIG360 Consulting
The company didn’t provide an update for when the pants
Ltd. in Vancouver, says Canadians “are a little bit addicted
Copyright Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Talking Point
are ready to,” Mr. Maronak said, adding he “doesn’t expect
much” from the company in the next couple quarters.
That is not to say, however, that he doesn’t have high
Apple Decline, Considers Financials expectations for Apple in the long run. He believes, for
instance, that the company will continue to take share in
The first quarter was one many large-cap growth managers
the global computing market, particularly as cost-con-
would soon rather forget as Apple shares extended their
scious companies continue to loosen restrictions and allow
employees to use personal Apple products for work. “When people move to Apple products, they don’t go
The roughly 2,400 such funds covered by investment-
back,” Mr. Maronak said. “It really does open the window.”
research firm Morningstar posted an average 8.79% total
return in the first quarter, lagging behind a 10.61% gain for
Apple wasn’t the only technology titan to struggle last quar-
the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.
ter, Mr. Maronak added, noting so-so stock performance
for others such as eBay, which gained just 6.3% in the first
Mixed gains for companies both of large size and in areas
quarter. Meanwhile, many of the best-performing technolo-
seen as high-growth—such as technology—created chal-
gy stocks were “small companies that were really beaten-
lenges. Small-cap value funds, for instance, posted a
up,” like Research in Motion—up 22% in the first quarter—
or Hewlett-Packard, which posted a 67% gain.
The influence of Apple was also pronounced. Roughly 65% of
“Those are companies I have some real questions about,”
large-cap growth managers had more than 5% of their portfo-
he said. “If you have some questions about Apple, you
lios weighted in Apple at the end of 2012, according to data-
can’t tell me you don’t have questions about H-P or RIM.”
provider eVestment. Fears around a rising competitive threat
from Samsung helped send Apple shares down 17% in the
Research in Motion shares have rallied amid hopes for the
first quarter, adding to a 20% decline in the fourth quarter.
company’s long-awaited new BlackBerry 10 phones,
though it remains to be seen if they will be successful with
Erick Maronak witnessed the swoon first hand as lead port-
consumers. H-P, meanwhile, still faces slumping sales and
folio manager for the Victory Large Cap Growth Fund.
frustration over its 2011 acquisition of software maker
Apple is the fund’s largest holding with a 5.4% weighting, a
Autonomy, which last November resulted in an $8.8 billion
hair ahead of a 5.3% weighting for Apple in its benchmark,
the Russell 1000 Growth Index. The fund gained 7.47% in
the first quarter, lagging a 9.54% return for the benchmark.
Outside the technology world, Mr. Maronak said he would
like to bulk up on the fund’s financial holdings, though he
“There are more questions than answers and Apple has
remains concerned by seemingly endless regulatory and
never been really good about giving the answers before they
legal issues surrounding the sector. 4:30 a.m., UK
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