Canada’s core inflation rate rose 2.1 percent in February compared to 2 percent the previous month. The rate of increase beat earlier predictions of 1.7 percent and is the fastest advancement since the month of December, 2008.

The result is especially interesting as the Bank of Canada has a growth target of 2 percent. Earlier in the year, the Bank predicted that that the annual rate of growth would not reach 2 percent until the third quarter of the year. Based on this assessment, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney had pledged to maintain interest rates at a record low 0.25 percent unless changes in the inflation rate warranted action earlier. Could the results of the past two months warrant an increase to interest rates earlier than previously expected?

David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital thinks it is possible.

“Inflation has been much stickier than the Bank of Canada anticipated

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a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7ZckZ-8naz0/S6LYTYQ8h6I/AAAAAAAADIU/Adt8xy6wiqU/s1600-h/murray+state.jpg"img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 246px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7ZckZ-8naz0/S6LYTYQ8h6I/AAAAAAAADIU/Adt8xy6wiqU/s320/murray+state.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450156326514362274" border="0" //aYesterday may have been the best first day of an NCAA Tournament ever in terms of exciting games and bracket upheaval.br /br /It is days like yesterday why so many people love the tournament so much, wow.br /br /As I've mentioned a couple of times I will be giving a presentation at the a href="http://www.moneyshow.com/vcms/?scode=010546"Vancouver MoneyShow/a on April 7 about portfolio construction with ETFs. I've done this a couple of other times updating with new funds as they come out. The point is not run out and implement the portfolio but more like think about the access that ETFs offer and the flexibility they allow in building a portfolio.br /br /In the presentation I go sector by sector and talk about each fund I use, for most ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – March 19, 2010 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Wal-Mart (WMT), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Procter & Gamble (PG), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY) and AstraZeneca Plc (AZN).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Initial Jobless Claims Down Again

Extended claims are very helpful from a humanitarian point of view at a time when there are five job seekers for every job opening. By the time people have been out of work for six months, it is highly likely that they have already drawn down their savings and

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Ian Russell is President and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada

The following is a guest article by Ian Russell, the President and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC).

Biography: Ian Russell is President and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada, a position he has held since the Association’s inauguration on April 1, 2006. Under his leadership, the Association has successfully advocated for the industry on a broad range of regulatory and tax issues. Ian is a frequent columnist in industry publications and is a presenter and speaker on industry issues and developments.

In a global environment fraught with a seemingly unending litany of

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Even with the recovery from the economic downturn in sight, governments are still choosing to outsource some of its operations to different outsourcing companies. Governments such as India and the US are taking advantage of outsourcing to help bolster their operations and provide their constituents with quality service.

In the US, companies’ JP Morgan and ATS have both signed outsourcing contracts with the government this past month. JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM), on the 10th of March, was selected by the government of Canada to provide an expanded set of collateral management services for derivatives. Notably, JP Morgan was the first to introduce end-to-end collateral management solutions for OTC derivative service back in 2005. Then on the 16th of March, ATS Corporation (NYSE:ATSC) also landed a $27.5 million, four-year government

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Following the release of Ciena Corporation’s (CIEN) first quarter fiscal 2010 results on March 4, 2010, analysts have made both positive and negative revisions to their estimates.

Linthicum, Maryland-based CIENA is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of optical networking equipment, software and services. The company specializes in transitioning legacy communications networks to converged, next-generation architectures, capable of delivering a broader mix of high-bandwidth services.

First Quarter Detail

Ciena reported a wider fiscal 2010 first-quarter loss compared to the year-ago period due to increased expenses related to its pending acquisition of Nortel Networks (NT). The quarter included $27.0 million in acquisition and integration-related expenses associated with the pending acquisition of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel’s Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business.

Ciena’s non-GAAP (excluding one-time and non-cash items, but including employee stock options expenses) net loss for the quarter increased to 21 cents per share versus a net loss of 9 cents

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We are downgrading Suncor Energy (SU) shares to Underperform from Neutral, reflecting its weak near- to medium-term production outlook and the Petro-Canada acquisition-related risks.

Recently, the company informed that a fire at its largest oil sands project in Alberta would only be fixed by early April. This will cut Suncor’s production rates during February and March below the company’s earlier guidance.

Additionally, post the Petro-Canada acquisition (completed on August 1, 2009), we remain worried about Suncor’s high debt level (approximately C$14 billion) and significant anticipated capital expenditure requirements (C$5.5 billion for 2010). There are also operational and execution risks associated with the integration of Petro-Canada’s predominately conventional assets, which are of a type and in regions where Suncor lacks experience.

The current uncertain commodity price environment, vulnerability of the company’s deep oil sands technology to potential implementation delays, and environmental concerns regarding oil sand crude are some other negatives in the Suncor story.

Last

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Recently, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY) and AstraZeneca Plc (AZN) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted their application for reviewing the combination of a fixed dose of Onglyza (saxagliptin) and metformin for treating patients suffering from type II diabetes. While Onglyza is already available for the treatment of diabetes, metformin is a widely-used generic diabetes pill. Onglyza is co-developed by Bristol-Myers and AstraZeneca. The partners submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. regulatory authority for saxagliptin/metformin HCl extended-release tablets on Dec 29, 2009. The NDA is based on bioequivalence data and data from the Onglyza late-stage clinical trial program. The data included studies on the co-administration of Onglyza and immediate release metformin, as an adjunct to diet and exercise, in adult patients suffering from type II diabetes. The subjects in the program were either treatment-naïve or their disease was inadequately ...

API Technologies Corp. is a prime contractor in sophisticated electronics, highly engineered systems, secure communications and electronic component and subsystems to the global defense and aerospace industry. The company’s customers include the governments of the US, the UK, Canada, the EU and NATO as well as many leading Fortune 500 companies.

The company announced today that Brian Throneberry has joined API Technologies as vice-president of sales and marketing. With over 25 years of executive-level leadership in sales, project management and global operations, he will lead sales and business development for API’s growing ‘defense and systems’ business units.

Prior to joining API Technologies, Mr. Throneberry had accumulated varied experience. He was vice-president of sales and marketing at Suntron Corporation, a leading North American defense and aerospace subcontractor. In addition, he was director of global accounts at Venture Corporation based in Singapore. Mr. Throneberry also worked at ACT Manufacturing as senior vice-president of

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The Germans broke rank with the rest of the EU and suggested Greece should turn to the IMF for support. The euro (EUR) had rallied over the past couple of days after it seemed the EU finance ministers had agreed on a loan facility to back the Greek government. But Germany’s Angela Merkel threw a cat among the pigeons today when she said Greece should not look to the EU but should turn to the IMF if it needs aid. So traders immediately started selling the euro again as the black cloud of a possible Greek default fell back over the market.

I have to question the German Chancellor’s timing on this announcement. Could it be that she is simply trying to bring the value of the euro down a bit? After all, Germany’s economy is dependent on exports, and a lower euro is a big plus for

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