Admin-CL

Canadian dollar closes higher amid weak manufacturing data, rising oil prices – Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports

TORONTO – (April 15, 2011) Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports The Canadian dollar closed higher against the greenback Thursday as oil prices shed early losses to move higher, while traders took in data showing a bigger than expected drop in manufacturing shipments.

The loonie rose 0.28 of a cent to close at 104.19 cents US.

Statistics Canada reported earlier that manufacturing sales fell 1.5 per cent in February to $47.1 billion, a steeper decline than the 0.1 per cent expected by economists.

The showing followed a 4.4 per cent gain in January.

The agency said that sales decreases were mostly concentrated in the auto sector and aerospace product and parts industries.

Sales in the motor vehicle assembly industry dropped 10.9 per cent in February.

Meanwhile, the May crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $1 to US$108.11 a barrel.

Crude has rapidly come off a recent 2 1/2 year high of almost US$113 a barrel after Goldman Sachs warned investors Monday that crude oil prices were due for a “substantial pullback” after surging about 30 per cent since mid-February as the market responded to a civil war in Libya and unrest in other Mideast countries.

Copper prices were lower for a fourth day because of demand concerns as the May contract on the Nymex rose dipped one cent to US$4.28 a pound.

Bullion prices advanced while the June contract in New York climbed $16.80 to US$1,472.40 an ounce.

The currency has lost ground this week as the Bank of Canada announced Tuesday it was keeping interest rates unchanged at one per cent. The central bank also warned Wednesday that the Canadian economy is entering a period of slow growth under the heavy burden of a strong dollar.

For more information please visit us at: http://www.clearlease.com/Career-Opportunities.html

About Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease

Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Commercial (DLC Clearlease/Clearlease.com) is a fully diversified Lease Finance Mortgage Banking Brokerage Company specializing in Equipment Leasing, Automobile Leasing, Residential, Commercial Lending/Mortgage Financing. DLC Clearlease possesses the capability to accommodate financing needs ranging from a small second Home Mortgage to a Multi-Million Dollar Commercial Projects. No mortgage is too small or too large for this integrated Company.

You may have recently seen a Dominion Lending advertisement on such media outlets as: Global News, CTV News, CBC Television, Rogers Sportsnet or possibly heard the great Don Cherry, a Canadian Sports legend, discuss Dominion Lending Centres.

Contact DLC Clearlease.com:

The loonie rose 0.28 of a cent to close at 104.19 cents US.

Statistics Canada reported earlier that manufacturing sales fell 1.5 per cent in February to $47.1 billion, a steeper decline than the 0.1 per cent expected by economists.

The showing followed a 4.4 per cent gain in January.

The agency said that sales decreases were mostly concentrated in the auto sector and aerospace product and parts industries.

Sales in the motor vehicle assembly industry dropped 10.9 per cent in February.

Meanwhile, the May crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $1 to US$108.11 a barrel.

Copper prices were lower for a fourth day because of demand concerns as the May contract on the Nymex rose dipped one cent to US$4.28 a pound.

Bullion prices advanced while the June contract in New York climbed $16.80 to US$1,472.40 an ounce.

For more information please visit us at: http://www.clearlease.com/Career-Opportunities.html

About Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease

Contact DLC Clearlease.com:

Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease
HEAD OFFICE, Bentall Two, Suite 900, 555 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V7X 1M8, CANADA.
Mr. A. Pidgeon, Editor in Chief
Tel: (604) 696-1221 ext. 177
eMail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.clearlease.com
News: http://clearlease.com/category/equipment-lease-blog/feed/rss
Twitter: @clearlease

###Canadian dollar closes higher amid weak manufacturing data, rising oil prices – Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports

The loonie rose 0.28 of a cent to close at 104.19 cents US.

Statistics Canada reported earlier that manufacturing sales fell 1.5 per cent in February to $47.1 billion, a steeper decline than the 0.1 per cent expected by economists.

The showing followed a 4.4 per cent gain in January.

The agency said that sales decreases were mostly concentrated in the auto sector and aerospace product and parts industries.

Sales in the motor vehicle assembly industry dropped 10.9 per cent in February.

Meanwhile, the May crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $1 to US$108.11 a barrel.

Copper prices were lower for a fourth day because of demand concerns as the May contract on the Nymex rose dipped one cent to US$4.28 a pound.

Bullion prices advanced while the June contract in New York climbed $16.80 to US$1,472.40 an ounce.

For more information please visit us at: http://www.clearlease.com/Career-Opportunities.html

About Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease

Contact DLC Clearlease.com:

Ireland is pursuing an aggressive plan to bolster its banks, slash its deficits and pull the Irish out of one of the world’s worst financial crises – Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports

DUBLIN – Ireland (April 15, 2011) Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports Ireland is pursuing an aggressive plan to bolster its banks, slash its deficits and pull the Irish out of one of the world’s worst financial crises, international experts declared Friday as they approved the next phase of Ireland’s global bailout.

Negotiators from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund said Ireland can receive the next €4.5 billion ($6.48 billion dollars) in the credit line it negotiated in November. And they authorized Ireland to pump €24 billion into its debt-struck banks by the end of July in a dramatic bid to make them crisis-proof and spur investors to resume normal lending.

IMF executive Ajai Chopra, who oversaw November’s deal for a potential €67.5 billion ($98 billion) credit line for Ireland, said all the experts — who spent the past week testing whether Ireland was meeting its end of the bargain — said the month-old government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny was moving decisively to restore investor confidence in its banks.

Chopra said the new government was “moving forward on banking reform in a very resolute way. Ireland is emerging from one of the deepest crises ever, but the way forward is clear.”

He, European Central Bank official Klaus Masuch and Istvan Szekely, director general of economic and financial affairs at the European Commission, agreed at a joint press conference that Ireland’s published March 31 stress tests on four Dublin banks were rigorous in setting €24 billion as the new upper limit to guarantee their solvency. Ireland has already injected €46 billion into its banks, a burden that wrecked the nation’s credit rating and forced it to negotiate November’s rescue loans.

Chopra said Kenny’s government, elected Feb. 25 and formed March 9, has “moved very quickly after taking office in devising a strategy based on the stress tests. … In our view Ireland has a clear plan and progress is being made.”

Masuch rejected criticisms that other European countries, and the Frankfurt-based ECB in particular, were forcing Ireland’s taxpayers to cover bank losses that should be borne instead by senior bondholders. Those investors — chiefly British, German and American banks — are being repaid in full.

“In our view burden-sharing on the senior bondholders would have been risky for Ireland. It would have undermined confidence in the Irish banking sector. You have just achieved a major boost in confidence,” he said, referring to investors’ mildly positive response to the latest Irish stress tests.

Masuch added that the European Central Bank was directly providing or underwriting more than €130 billion in short-term loans “at very low rates” to Irish banks, aid that enables them to stay open and dispense money to customers.

“These loans are not available on the market,” he said.

As part of the past week’s haggling, the financiers did offer concessions sought by Kenny’s government to reverse elements of the November package. They pledged backing for an ill-defined program to create jobs — desperately needed in a nation with a 14.6 per cent unemployment rate, second-highest in the 27-nation EU.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the jobs plan would be unveiled in May and would be “revenue neutral” — meaning it won’t increase the deficit. He declined to say how much the program would cost or where compensating cuts would occur.

The European and IMF officials also accepted the government’s demand to restore Ireland’s unusually high minimum wage. This will take the hourly rate back up to €8.65 ($12.55), second-highest in Europe next to Luxembourg, following the previous government’s decision to cut it by €1 ($1.45) to €7.65 ($11.10). The move affects about 60,000 members of Ireland’s 1.8 million workers.

Ireland simultaneously will cut in half the tax it makes employers pay for each employee earning minimum wage. That measure was designed to ensure that the pay raise won’t raise business costs. Again, Noonan declined to say how Ireland would compensate for the reduced tax take.

The bailout negotiators downplayed an apparent divergence in the economic forecasts used in November’s bailout deal versus worse figures now being forecast for Ireland.

While the agreement five months ago anticipated 2011 growth of 0.9 per cent and a deficit of 9.4 per cent, the IMF this week said growth of 0.5 per cent and a deficit of 10.5 per cent was now probable.

“The data are volatile. These (two) forecasts are actually quite close, so I would not read too much into the difference,” Chopra said.

Economists sounded more skeptical about Irish plans to raise the minimum wage and lower employers’ tax burden on those workers — while simultaneously meeting the EU-IMF goal of reducing the deficit to 3 per cent of Ireland’s gross domestic product by 2015.

“The Irish government hasn’t explained where that money’s going to come from,” said Gregory Connor, finance professor at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth. He said the lower tax on minimum-wage workers means “there has to be a spending decline or tax increase somewhere else.”

Connor said few expect Ireland to achieve the goal of reducing its deficit to 3 per cent by 2015 — but the country was succeeding in showing that it’s doing its best.

“Most economists and the troika (EU, ECB and IMF) members as well as the Irish government agree that goal is not really feasible. The IMF is forecasting it that won’t even happen by 2016, but the attempt is important,” he said.

Before the latest European and IMF reassurances on Ireland, one of the big three credit-rating agencies cut its grade on Ireland citing the risk of lower-than-expected growth, higher unemployment and future banking shocks.

Moody’s dropped Ireland two notches to Baa3, one grade above junk-bond status — and kept the country on a negative watch for a potential further downgrade.

The other two agencies are less pessimistic.

Fitch on Thursday said it was keeping Ireland’s score at BBB-plus, three grades above junk, with a negative outlook.

Standard & Poor’s on April 1 downgraded Ireland one notch to BBB-plus but raised its outlook to stable. S&P argued that Ireland’s strong export sector means it is better placed to rebound than Greece, the first eurozone member to take a bailout, and Portugal, which is currently negotiating one.

For more information please visit us at: http://www.clearlease.com/Career-Opportunities.html

About Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease

Contact DLC Clearlease.com:

Chopra said the new government was “moving forward on banking reform in a very resolute way. Ireland is emerging from one of the deepest crises ever, but the way forward is clear.”

“These loans are not available on the market,” he said.

The bailout negotiators downplayed an apparent divergence in the economic forecasts used in November’s bailout deal versus worse figures now being forecast for Ireland.

“The data are volatile. These (two) forecasts are actually quite close, so I would not read too much into the difference,” Chopra said.

Connor said few expect Ireland to achieve the goal of reducing its deficit to 3 per cent by 2015 — but the country was succeeding in showing that it’s doing its best.

Moody’s dropped Ireland two notches to Baa3, one grade above junk-bond status — and kept the country on a negative watch for a potential further downgrade.

The other two agencies are less pessimistic.

Fitch on Thursday said it was keeping Ireland’s score at BBB-plus, three grades above junk, with a negative outlook.

For more information please visit us at: http://www.clearlease.com/Career-Opportunities.html

About Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease

Contact DLC Clearlease.com:

Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease
HEAD OFFICE, Bentall Two, Suite 900, 555 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V7X 1M8, CANADA.
Mr. A. Pidgeon, Editor in Chief
Tel: (604) 696-1221 ext. 177
eMail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.clearlease.com
News: http://clearlease.com/category/equipment-lease-blog/feed/rss
Twitter: @clearlease

###Ireland is pursuing an aggressive plan to bolster its banks, slash its deficits and pull the Irish out of one of the world’s worst financial crises – Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports

Chopra said the new government was “moving forward on banking reform in a very resolute way. Ireland is emerging from one of the deepest crises ever, but the way forward is clear.”

“These loans are not available on the market,” he said.

The bailout negotiators downplayed an apparent divergence in the economic forecasts used in November’s bailout deal versus worse figures now being forecast for Ireland.

“The data are volatile. These (two) forecasts are actually quite close, so I would not read too much into the difference,” Chopra said.

Connor said few expect Ireland to achieve the goal of reducing its deficit to 3 per cent by 2015 — but the country was succeeding in showing that it’s doing its best.

Moody’s dropped Ireland two notches to Baa3, one grade above junk-bond status — and kept the country on a negative watch for a potential further downgrade.

The other two agencies are less pessimistic.

Fitch on Thursday said it was keeping Ireland’s score at BBB-plus, three grades above junk, with a negative outlook.

For more information please visit us at: http://www.clearlease.com/Career-Opportunities.html

About Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease

Contact DLC Clearlease.com:

TSX advances amid high Chinese inflation figures, higher oil prices – Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports

CALGARY – (April 15, 2011) Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports TORONTO – The Toronto stock market was higher late Friday morning as oil prices advanced, while data from China kept inflation and interest rate concerns front and centre.

The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 49.21 points to 13,871.02 while the TSX Venture Exchange dipped 0.06 of a point to 2,300.98. The Canadian dollar was down a fifth of a cent to 103.99 cents US.

In China, figures showed consumer prices rose 5.4 per cent in the year to March, up from February’s 4.9 per cent. The increase was largely driven by surging food costs and represents a setback for the government, which has boosted interest rates four times since October to cool prices.

Other data showed that the Chinese economy grew 9.7 per cent in the first three months of the year — little changed from the previous quarter’s 9.8 per cent — despite government efforts to steer growth to a sustainable level.

Investors worry that the Chinese government will have to take further measures to slow the economy, which in turn could hurt the global economic recovery and depress prices for commodities. Strong demand for oil and metals helped push the TSX up five per cent in the first quarter.

However, the TSX headed for a sharp weekly loss as investors took some profits from a strong run on markets that has gone on practically without a break since last summer. Investors are also concerned about the degree to which high commodity prices are fuelling inflation and, in the case of surging oil prices, hurting economic growth.

“Certainly there seems to be a lot of uncertainty swirling around,” said John Johnston, chief strategist at the Harbour Group at RBC Dominion Securities.

“Right now my best guess is that it’s probably for the time being a short-term correction.”

The energy sector was ahead 0.63 per cent as oil prices reversed early losses with the May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 91 cents to US$109.02 a barrel. Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) climbed 72 cents to $43.27 while Cenovus Energy (TSX:CVE) rose 38 cents to $36.45.

Oil prices sold off the first two days of this week, from US$113.46 on Monday, the highest since September 2008. However, a weaker dollar and signs U.S. gasoline consumption remains robust helped stanch those losses. Crude has gained 28 per cent since Feb. 15 because of the civil war in Libya and worries about unrest in other Mideast countries.

The industrial sector also advanced with Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) ahead nine cents to $6.98.

Gold stocks also moved up as bullion prices rose for a third day with the June contract on the Nymex ahead $10.30 to US$1,482.70 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) gained 54 cents to $52.40 while Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) improved by 26 cents to $52.51.

The base metals sector was flat with the May copper contract down three cents to US$4.26 a pound in New York. Demand concerns have sent copper tumbling 5.5 per cent this week. Quadra FNX Mining (TSX:QUX) was down 27 cents to $13.64 and Sherritt International (TSX:S) was eight cents lower at $7.80.

The market also found support from tech heavyweight Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM). Its stock was up $1.07 to $52.82 after losing a similar amount Thursday ahead of the launch of its new PlayBook tablet, which hits Canadian stores on Tuesday.

Critical reception has been mixed for the PlayBook, with some reviews finding good things to say about its hardware, its Flash-able web browser and slick interface, but still the overall consensus appeared to be largely negative and focused on features that were missing from the device.

New York markets were mixed amid poorly received earnings reports.

Google said Thursday that it earned US$2.3 billion, or $7.04 per share, in the latest quarter. Revenue reached nearly $8.6 billion, a 27 per cent increase from last year, but those numbers were overshadowed by significantly higher expenses. Its stock slid seven per cent to US$537.88.

And Bank of America said Friday that its first-quarter income fell 39 per cent to US$1.7 billion or 17 cents a share on higher costs related to its mortgage business and higher litigation expenses. The earnings fell short of the 28 cents a share estimated by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue fell to US$26.9 billion from $32 billion in the same period last year but its shares slipped 13 cents to US$13.

The Dow Jones industrial average was ahead 34.32 points to 12,319.47. The Nasdaq composite index fell 7.31 points to 2,752.91 while the S&P 500 index added 3.34 points to 1,317.86.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Labour Department said Friday that core consumer prices, which strip out food and energy costs, rose 0.1 per cent in March. Economists had expected those prices to increase 0.2 per cent. Prices overall rose 0.5 per cent, matching the gain in February.

And the University of Michigan’s widely-watched consumer confidence index rose to 69.6 in April from 68.2 in March.

The showing “is better than nothing, but that still leaves confidence well down on the mid-70s readings we were seeing before the surge in gasoline prices really began to bite,” observed Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

In other corporate news, Iamgold Corp. (TSX:IMG) announced plans to sell its 18.9 per cent stake in the Tarkwa and Damang gold mines in Ghana, West Africa to Gold Fields Ltd. for US$667 million. Its shares declined $1.35 to $19.75.

Wi-LAN Inc. (TSX:WIN) has signed a multi-year agreement that gives Cisco Systems Inc. the licences to “virtually all” of its patents. The Ottawa-based company, which specializes in licensing rights to intellectual property and patents, did not disclose the financial details of the transaction and its shares gained 15 cents to $6.05.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell less than 0.1 per cent.

Despite the inflation figures, China’s Shanghai Composite Index staged a late rally to finish 0.3 per cent higher.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.7 per cent while South Korea’s Kospi ended down less than 0.1 per cent.

London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.36 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX was ahead 0.31 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 was up 0.15 per cent.

For more information please visit us at: http://www.clearlease.com/Career-Opportunities.html

About Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease

Contact DLC Clearlease.com:

TORONTO – (April 15, 2011) Dominion Lending Centres Clearlease Reports The Toronto stock market was higher late Friday morning as oil prices advanced, while data from China kept inflation and interest rate concerns front and centre.