The Best Two Ways to Play Canada’s Economy, Currency And Natural Resources

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

A vast amount of natural resources. A love of hockey. A penchant for bacon. And liberal use of the word “eh.”

All are associated with Canada, of course. But America’s neighbor to the north boasts another fine trait: an efficiently run economy.

You see, although Canada borders the United States, it takes a completely different approach towards economic policy.

That showed strongly just recently when America stoked protectionist fears by slapping stiff duties on tire imports from China. Yet days later, Canada unveiled plans for a significant move in the opposite direction. Canada aims to abolish all remaining tariffs on imported machinery and equipment used by domestic manufacturers, saving Canadian manufacturers C$250-300 million a year.

And while the United States dithers over

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Ford Motor's (F) Canadian arm will offer customers a rebate of up to C$3,000 ($2,700) for the purchase of a new Ford vehicle in exchange for a 15-year or older vehicle.

The rebate program – Recycle Your Ride – would allow customers to receive C$1,000 for purchase of a new Ford or Lincoln car, C$2,000 for a new sport utility or crossover vehicle and C$3,000 for a new truck or luxury Lincoln. The program will start this Thursday and run for 60 days. If required, it may be extended.

Ford Canada plans to maintain sales momentum through the program. The program is built on the line of the Canadian Government's "Retire Your Ride" program, which has given C$300 to consumers to turn in an old vehicle.

Ford Canada's chief executive, David Mondragon, also strongly supported the similar "Cash for Clunkers" rebate program for fuel-efficient vehicles that generated big sales in the

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Is the recession technically over? The strongest argument for recovery we’ve seen yet… Rob Parenteau shares his new macro economic forecast… “Told you so!” writes Byron King — “breaking news” he and The 5 scooped in March 2008… Plus, Chris Mayer’s latest contrarian play…

Our forecast today: The government and mainstream media will soon be calling the end of the recession. Leading this feeble cause is the latest ISM manufacturing index, probably the most powerful argument for recovery we’ve seen yet:

This morning, the ISM said its gauge of manufacturing activity had risen to 52.9 in August – out of contraction for the first time since the recession began and the highest score since June 2007. Of course, things are a bit different now, but over the last 60 years, when the manufacturing sector returns to growth, the recession has already ended. That prospect

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United States Steel Corp. (X) is restarting its blast furnace at its Hamilton, Ontario plant as steel demand edges higher after a nine-month shutdown.

Demand for U.S. Steel’s flat-rolled steel has improved after bottoming in April and May, this year and is likely to improve going forward. The largest steel producer in the U.S. expects mill-operating rates to exceed 50% in the current quarter, up from 32% in the prior period.

U.S. Steel acquired the Hamilton and Nanticoke plants in Ontario from Canadian peer Stelco Inc. for about $1.1 billion in 2007. The Hamilton operation has an annual production capacity of about 2 million tons. The facility also consists of galvanizing lines and a cold mill. However, the company does not plan to restart these for now.

U.S. Steel had closed the Hamilton blast furnace in November 2008. It suspended the remaining operations at Hamilton and the Nanticoke

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A federal judge handed the Obama administration an important victory in its push to steer the automobile industry back to health Sunday, approving the sale of General Motors Corp.’s (OTC: GMGMQ) most profitable assets to a new government-run company.

The move removes an important barrier to the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy.

Judge Robert E. Gerber of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a ruling saying the sale was GM’s only option and that it would “prevent the death of the patient on the operating table,” according to Reuters.

The 87-page ruling rejected appeals from a group of bondholders, tort claimants and unions who had objected to the plan.

“As nobody can seriously dispute, the only alternative to an immediate sale is liquidation — a disastrous result for GM’s creditors, its employees, the suppliers who depend on GM for their own existence, and the communities

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Today a former KGB spy, living in Canada since 1997, has taken refuge inside a church in Vancouver in a desperate move to avoid deportation of himself and his family.  The Canadian authorities are seeking to send Mikhail Lennikov, his wife Irina, and 17-year-old son Dmitri, back to Russia for having engaged in acts of espionage and subversion against democratic governments under the Soviet Union (though Lennikov insists that he was a low level translator).  To wit, a Federal Court rejected pleas from Lennikov's lawyers to suspend this deportation.Lennikov has rallied a staggering amount of political support, which may not be surprising for Canada given the country's traditionally forgiving stance toward refugees.  Over the past six months, the Lennikov case has become a media ...

Bonds down. Gold up $17. Someone seems to think there is a whiff of inflation in the air. Sniff…sniff….

We’re not so sure. It seems too early to us.

But we’re not even going to think about it. Today, we’ve got to make tracks. We’re traveling.

In light of our voyage we’re turning today’s essay over to guest host Ian Mathias, of Agora Financial’s 5 Min. Forecast. He’ll take over from here…

Your family’s share of the government debt is now over half a million dollars. A record $546,668, to be exact.

That cheery Monday stat comes courtesy of a USA Today study, which claims that each American family’s share rose 12% in 2008. That’s $55,000 in new government debt last year for every US household – thousands more than the median household annual income. Here’s how it breaks down:

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Is actually the name of an econblog off of which Alpha.Sources get a substantial amount of backlinks. However, it is also a fitting emblem on a day when the hitherto biggest automaker in the world (GM) finally, one is tempted to say, files for bankruptcy. Of course, it will not sink into the eternal wastebin of companies gone bust, but rather emerge as a "new" GM, significantly slimmer and with significantly more state capital (and ownership). 60% is the current number flying around concerning the stake of the US federal government whereas Canada will control 12% according to Bloomberg in exchange for a 9.5 billion loan.

General Motors Corp., the world’s largest automaker for 77 years, will file for bankruptcy today, and emerge with majority ownership by taxpayers and liabilities reduced by more than 50 percent, the U.S. government said. The “new

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Chrysler LLC has asked court approval for a May 22 exit from bankruptcy, outlining Fiat SpA’s (OTC ADR: FIATY) plan to scoop Chrysler assets and urging that a quick bankruptcy is vital to keep suppliers, dealers and consumers’ trust in the brand. According to its filing in New York bankruptcy court, Chrysler seeks approval of a plan where creditor objections must be submitted by May 11, competing bids must be submitted by May 15, and a May 21 hearing to rubber stamp the winning bid, Bloomberg reported. “Key suppliers and dealers simply cannot survive a prolonged period of uncertainty,” Chrysler said in its motion seeking approval of the sale process. “Consumers will look elsewhere for vehicles if delays persist.” Sign up ...

Economist sees a floor for financial stocks thanks to a reversal in bonds. He also says nonfinancial profits are better than many think.

 

David Morris is chief executive of London-based Global Wealth Allocation Ltd., an asset management and research firm with around $3 billion in assets under management. He began his career by serving in economic development for the Canadian government in East Africa. In 1980, he took over as treasury manager for Xerox's Canadian operations. Then, six years later, he became treasurer for Campbell Soup in Canada. Morris later started a pension consultancy business. In 1992, he founded GWA.

Morris is probably best known for developing a series of 20 indexes that are sold worldwide in partnership with the FTSE Group. The benchmarks, which were created in 1996, are "wealth-weighted." GWA takes standard FTSE indexes and weights components based on three

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