25. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

After years of delay and hundreds of millions of dollars in preparations, Customs and Border Protection officials said new security measures would go into effect on June 1, requiring Americans entering the country by land or sea to show government-approved identification.

Ms. Hubbard said some of the decline had been caused by the recession. But some of it she attributed to “confusion about documents and hostile treatment by border officials.”

“We have many people who come from Canada and tell us they don’t feel welcome when they cross the border,” she said. “We talk about those complaints with our friends on the border, and they tell us their job is security, not customer service.” Read full article at the New York Times.

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24. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

The CRA has announced that when you phone in, you will now be able to find out the identity of the call agent who handled your tax enquiry. According to the CRA, “the policy will help reinforce the agents’ accountability while also ensuring greater consistency in the way they greet callers.”

Call centre agents will now greet you automatically with their first name and have been designated with a CRA employee identification number and geographic call centre location that can be requested by the caller.

Posted in Taxation | No Comments »

21. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

According to T2 we are only in the 5th inning in the real estate correction with more pain to come. T2 analysis shows that banks are not prepared to handle the next wave of losses. The report is well worth a read for all investors and you can see it here.

Posted in Real Estate | No Comments »

21. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

California is in a political and economic straitjacket and conditions continue to deteriorate given the recent budget failure. This bears watching as California is not the only state with serious problems and if we see more of this malaise spread across America we can only surmise that the impact on markets will be meaningful. This is a growing story and not baked into the markets at this point in time. See more at the Economist here.

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20. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Reports last week that the recession is draining Social Security and Medicare funds were just one more reminder that the United States needs to fix its finances. For inspiration, why not look to Canada? Long derided by American conservatives as “socialist” and praised by the left for its generous government spending, Canada is casting off those stereotypes. Over the past few years, while U.S. politicians presided over huge increases in spending and debt, the Canadian government tightened its belt, slashed tax rates and balanced budgets. Consider these trends:

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20. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Economist, David Rosenberg recently of Merrill Lynch and now at Canadian money manager Gluskin Sheff speaks out on how the recent rally was a “suckers rally” and what to do during the next downleg in the market.

He makes the point that the biggest gainers in the recent rally were low quality stocks where the runnup was nothing more than short covering in the DASH FOR TRASH.

He may have a point as the rally seems plump.

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19. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

By insisting on bailing out bank bondholders to the tune of 100 cents on the dollar, John Hussman says, the government has crowded out $1 trillion of private investment and almost guaranteed double-digit future inflation.

Read the whole story>

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16. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Is this what the first trade war of the global economic crisis looks like?

Ordered by Congress to “buy American” when spending money from the $787 billion stimulus package, the town of Peru, Ind., stunned its Canadian supplier by rejecting sewage pumps made outside of Toronto. After a Navy official spotted Canadian pipe fittings in a construction project at Camp Pendleton, Calif., they were hauled out of the ground and replaced with American versions. In recent weeks, other Canadian manufacturers doing business with U.S. state and local governments say they have been besieged with requests to sign affidavits pledging that they will only supply materials made in the USA. See full article at the Washington Post.

This tit fot tat mini-trade war between the US and Canada is alarming and if not arrested soon could morph into a serious issue for Canada. Close to 80% of Canadian exports go to the US who is Canada’s major trading partner. Where is NAFTA?

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12. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

There has been much chatter in recent weeks about the recovery in the real estate markets. Maybe in the lower end stuff but the high end real estate sector is seeing some real pain. The numbers are staggering as can be seen from this recent piece on the Wall Street Jounel blog entitled “Affluent Homeowners Sinking Fast“. Maybe the optimists are a bit premature calling for a turn in the real estate markets so soon.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

9. May 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Click to picture to enlarge.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »