Monday Market and Mortgage News - November 1st, 2010 - Edmonton & Calgary

First Foundation best rates to open the week:

Term Mortgage Rates

1 Year 2.50%
2 Year 2.99%
3 Year 2.90%
4 Year 3.49%
5 Year 3.49%
7 Year 4.75%

10 Year 5.15%

ARM / Variable 2.25%

Line of Credit 3.50%

The S&P/TSX composite index closed at 12,664.81, down 11.43 points or 0.1 per cent.

An early rally among North American stocks fizzled on Monday, despite positive October manufacturing reports for China, India and the United States. It appears that investors are far more concerned about upcoming U.S. midterm elections, a monetary policy report from the Federal Reserve and the monthly payrolls report from the Labor Department.

But…

It looks like “Signs point to a strong November-to-May period for TSX” according to this piece in the Financial Post.

And in other news…

Canada’s trade minister has assembled briefing material for cabinet colleagues that warns this country’s economic future remains mostly tied to the U.S. — not to Asia or emerging economies.

Check out the article in the Yahoo Finance page. Here’s an excerpt;

Peter Van Loan said Monday he has gathered documents arguing that established trading partners like the U.S. and Europe, while currently sluggish, will remain Canada’s economic bread and butter.

It’s a position that contrasts with the one publicly stated in recent years by the Canadian government and goes against a popular mantra that future growth is tied to emerging markets.

“ The other markets are important and we are indeed pursuing those. But we can’t ignore the fact that we still have enormous gains that we can make in those familiar markets and we have to tend to those existing relationships first and foremost.”

During his public talk Monday, Van Loan noted how two-thirds of the Canadian economy is trade-based — and more than two-thirds of that trade is done with the U.S.

“Our No. 1 priority . . . is our trading relationship with the United States,” Van Loan said.

“For the rest of my lifetime that will remain our top priority.”