You got me what for Christmas?
Here are some things you don’t want your spouse or kids or mom and dad to get you. And unfortunately, many stores have a no-return policy for the first few days after Christmas. God knows what they could be worth by then.
A loonie
I couldn’t have said it better than Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter: It has been one heck of an “ugly, awful, terrible, atrocious year.”
It’s only worth about 71.5 cents (U.S.) today. And if you blink, you just might miss it crashing through the 71-cent mark on its way to 70 cents in the next few months, according to the latest forecast from CIBC World Markets.
Down about 17 per cent this year, Mr. Porter notes that 2008 was the only year that the decline was worse, at 18.6 per cent, which was “a threshold I thought would never even be approached again.”
A barrel of oil
That’s not something that generally fits well under a tree, which is a good thing, given that it’s only worth $35, which is a cheap gift for someone you love.
Some say it could go lower still, while others are betting on a modest rebound.
A Canadian stock
If you’re into giving your kids stocks in the hopes they’ll learn about finance, you’re one cheap mom or dad.
“Judged in U.S. dollar terms, 2015 was an ugly year for the TSX, making it one of the world’s worst performers,” says Avery Shenfeld, the chief economist at CIBC.
“Resources were smacked for good reason, and from current levels, a return to healthy earnings would require a substantial output price recovery.”
Having said that, that’s this year. Maybe next will be better.
BMO’s Mr. Porter thinks there’s a chance of the TSX outperforming the S&P 500 after five years in a row of trailing it.
“On the positive side, the TSX has never underperformed the S&P 500 for six consecutive years,” Mr. Porter says.
“On the other side, the single most important driver for TSX relative performance is real commodity prices, so one has to believe commodities are poised for at least a small bounce. We do believe that.”
A house in Calgary
No one wants one of those. In fact, more than 7,100 people want to get rid of theirs, according to the latest tally of inventory that showed a 30-per-cent surge in November from a year earlier.
Average prices are down almost 3.5 per cent, and, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board, the “housing market conditions favour buyers.”
If only there were some.
A Barrick share
An ounce of actual gold might be better.
Barrick stock is down by about 23 per cent in the last year to date, underperforming the TSX by almost 15 per cent.
Should someone offer you the chance to be a Barrick executive for a year, however, now that’s some serious money.
More money than you’ll ever see in your life.
A Department of Finance internship
You might as well ask for a headache instead.
Already $1.2-billion-a-year short on the federal tax plan, nothing seems to be going right. There’s all that infrastructure spending, too.
“All this means further significant downside fiscal adjustments in the first Liberal budget,” says Warren Lovely, the chief of public sector research and strategy at National Bank.
Actually, you don’t want an internship anywhere. It doesn’t pay well. If it pays at all.
A lump of coal
Even those prices are collapsing.
BlackBerry gains
BlackBerry shares climbed today after a narrower quarterly loss.
The smartphone maker posted a loss of $89-million (U.S.), or 17 cents a share, compared to a loss a year earlier of $148-million or 28 cents.
When you strip out certain items, the per-share loss was just 3 cents.
Revenue tumbled from a year earlier, to $548-million from $793-million, though was up from the previous three-month period.
The company highlighted a surge of 183 per cent in revenue from software and services.
If Ben Carson had his way ...
