... key producer regions, including South Africa and China. The brokerage said energy cost pressures and ... closed at $36.03 Wednesday on New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Jennifer Robin Raj in Bangalore; ...
Thursday, March 27, 2008
UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-UBS raises aluminum price forecasts
Forex - US dollar lower against yen in early Asian trade on weak US data
... > > > Forex - US dollar lower against yen in ... a shift to the safety of the Japanese currency. The US Commerce Department said Wednesday ... the release Tuesday of the Bank of Japans quarterly Tankan survey of business sentiment. Ten ...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Eight million shares contacts as ISX session opens
... Baghdad, 26 March 2008 (Voices of Iraq) -- Iraqs Stock Exchange (ISX) index decreased by 0.661 % to settle at 37.550 points at the closuring ...
Basra Calling
... world-wide newsbox all lead with the in Iraq as Shiite militias loyal to cleric Muqtada ... the midst of a " ." The stock market is at the same level it was ...
Forex - Euro rises on stronger-than-expected Ifo
... Forex - Euro rises on stronger-than-expected Ifo LONDON ... from 200.27 sfr 2.0082 down from 2.0190 Australian dollar usd 0.9154 down from 0.9157 stg ...
Depa to list on Dubai International Financial Exchange and London Stock...
... in Qatar, the Four Seasons Hotel in Egypt, the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai, India ... global depositary receipts (GDRs) on the London Stock Exchange plc (the Prospectus). Copies of the Prospectus ...
Toronto stocks set to cool, eyes on shaky buyouts
... TORONTO, March 26 (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchanges main index was set to cool, but ... the collapse of blockbuster takeover talks between Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata (XTA.L: U.S. stock futures, meanwhile, ...
Why Not Optimism?
... treaties. Schumer himself has spent years bashing China, threatening the nation with huge tariffs if ... available, even to small businesses. In the stock market, the best-performing sectors since the Jan. 22 ...
Pakistans political stability critical for the local market
... YORK (MarketWatch) -- The swearing in of Pakistans new prime minister Tuesday is a step ... 31%. The market capitalization of the Karachi Stock Exchange is about $75 billion, while Pakistans GDP ... indicates the enormous potential of the local stock market, Dzierwa said. Local retail investors dominate Pakistans ...
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Nigeria: Guaranty Trust Bank Debuts in UK-Posts $750m GDR
... million of Global Depository Receipts (GDR) thereby becoming the first African bank and first Nigerian company to be listed on the main market of London stock exchange. In a statement by the Standard Times Press, the managing director of the bank, ...
KOSPI Could Be Higher Again On Tuesday
... hit five sessions for the South Korean stock market - and the global market continues to ... Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved *Swiss Franc Inches Up Further To 98.91 Against ...
Heavy fighting in southern Iraqi oil hub
... news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Reuters ...
New Intel Server Processors: Fewer Watts, High Performance
... Calif., St. Albans, England, and St. Petersburg, Russia. For more information visit www.ARC.com. ARC International ... ARC International is listed on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc (LSE:ARK). ARC and ...
Riskmetrics recommendation
... Gold 25 March 2008 For immediate release Moscow, March 25, 2008 RiskMetrics Report Recommends against ... Gold (RTS, MICEX and LSE - PLZL), Russia's leading gold producer, today announced that RiskMetrics, ... The company news service from the London Stock Exchange Note 1 Company names will not be ...
Monday, March 24, 2008
Besa Sets Record for Bonds
... but Greubel said it would take another couple of months. One source said the JSE was opposed to the recapitalisation of the bond market and thought better market efficiencies ...
Korea military to adapt energy saving training
Commodity Online SEOUL: In an effort to save energy, South Korean military on Monday decided to introduce a new type of training in the face of record oil prices.
Gold prices decline but above 1 month lows
Commodity Online SINGAPORE: Gold prices declined but stayed above a 1 month low hit the previous day, while Tokyo\s precious metals futures tumbled amid declines in commodities markets.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Why the Feds rate cuts wont help you
In its efforts to keep irresponsible bankers on Wall Street afloat, the Federal Reserve is spurring inflation, crippling the dollar and cutting into retirees incomes. And mortgages and car loans wont get any cheaper.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Wachovia says housing downturn nowhere near over
(Reuters) - Wachovia Corp (WB.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which offers adjustable-rate mortgages that let borrowers decide how much to pay each month, believes the U.S. housing downturn is far from over, Chief Risk Officer Don Truslow said.
"It feels like we have a ways to go," Truslow said on a Deutsche Bank Securities Inc conference call. Referring to the nine innings of a baseball game, Truslow said he was "unsure" whether the downturn was in the third, fourth or fifth inning, but "we haven't reached the seventh-inning stretch."
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, on February 28 said it expected first-half loan losses to exceed 0.75 percent of loans on an annualized basis in 2008, higher than it had forecast two weeks earlier.
Liberty CEO says he was point man in IAC talks
(Reuters) - Liberty Media Chief Executive Greg Maffei said on Wednesday that he was the point man in talks with IAC/InterActiveCorp over disengaging the two companies despite a long-standing relationship between Liberty Chairman John Malone and IAC CEO Barry Diller.
"John Malone considered Barry Diller a friend" after a business partnership of nearly 12 years, Maffei told a Delaware court, where IAC and controlling shareholder Liberty are battling over a proposal to spin off four of IAC's businesses.
"While (Malone) was not entirely happy and increasingly unhappy with the performance at IAC ... because of the friendship, I don't think (he) was willing to tackle some of the issues," Maffei said. "I have been in effect the point person. I don't believe it's a personal matter."
Liberty's board put him in that role despite concerns of a potential conflict between Maffei and Diller. The two had clashed over IAC's purchase of online travel site Expedia several years before.
IAC and Liberty sued each other in January after Diller proposed a spinoff plan that would dilute Liberty's majority voting control over the businesses as separate entities.
The plan followed more than a year of inconclusive talks on a possible swap that would give IAC's HSN shopping network to Liberty in return for Liberty's stake in IAC.
Diller, a former television and film executive, built IAC with Malone's backing over more than a decade. While Liberty owns about 30 percent of IAC shares, it holds 62 percent voting control through a second class of super-voting stock.
GO Capital Halts Redemptions From Global Hedge Fund
(Bloomberg) -- GO Capital Asset Management BV blocked clients from withdrawing cash from its Global Opportunities Fund, at least the seventh hedge fund in the past month forced to take steps to protect itself from falling markets.
Frans van Schaik, the former head of equity research at ABN Amro Holding NV who founded the Amsterdam-based fund in 2000, wrote to investors that the fund is not leveraged and not facing margin calls. The fund, which bets both on rising and falling prices, has assets of about 570 million euros ($881 million).
``A temporary suspension of redemptions is the best defensive measure to protect the interests of the participants,'' van Schaik and other members of GO Capital's management said in a letter posted on their Web site and dated March 11. ``Current market circumstances do not allow the fund to sell investments at a reasonable price.''
At least six hedge funds totaling more than $5.4 billion have been forced to liquidate or sell holdings since Feb. 15 as contagion from the U.S. subprime slump spreads for a seventh month. Others include Peloton Partners LLP's $1.8 billion ABS Fund, Tequesta Capital Advisor's mortgage fund and Focus Capital Investors LLC, which invested in midsize Swiss companies.
GO focused mostly on listed European equities, although it was not restricted in investments it could make, the Web site says. The fund planned to make bets on between 10 and 30 stocks and looked for ``situations of overreaction or stress,'' according to the Web site.
U.S. Stocks Rise, Led by Industrials, on Caterpillar Forecast
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks gained for a second day, extending the market's biggest rally in five years, after forecasts from Caterpillar Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. spurred speculation that profits will rebound this year.
Caterpillar, the largest maker of bulldozers, rose the most in three months after saying emerging markets will boost sales. Bear Stearns, the second-biggest underwriter of U.S. mortgage bonds, climbed after Chief Executive Officer Alan Schwartz told CNBC the firm has enough money to weather market fluctuations.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index increased 2.26 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,322.91 at 10:44 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 49.99, or 0.4 percent, to 12,206.8. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 9.1, or 0.4 percent, to 2,264.86. Four stocks gained for every three that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares in Europe and Asia gained.
Industrial shares contributed the most to the rally after Caterpillar said machinery orders in emerging markets and efforts to improve public works in North America and Europe will boost sales.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Goldman says can't rule out Fed emergency rate cut
(Reuters) - An emergency interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve is possible ahead of its March 18th policy meeting, according to a Goldman Sachs research note on Monday.
Goldman said its view on Fed policy changed on Friday.
The government reported on Friday that a second straight month of job losses and the Fed announced new steps to inject liquidity into the financial system as credit availability remains tight.
Carlyle Capital Says Lenders May Force Further Sales
(Bloomberg) -- Carlyle Group's mortgage-bond fund said creditors may liquidate as much as $16 billion of securities unless the two sides reach agreement on debt repayments.
The fund has asked lenders to refrain from further sales after they liquidated collateral securing $5 billion of debt, Carlyle Capital Corp. said in a statement today. It is meeting lenders to discuss more than $400 million of margin calls and is ``evaluating all options,'' the Guernsey, Channel Islands-based fund said.
Carlyle Capital used loans to buy about $22 billion of AAA rated mortgage debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the firm says have an ``implied guarantee'' from the U.S. government. Even the safest mortgage bonds have slumped following the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market, leading to the failure of hedge funds led by Peloton Partners LLP.
``This particular Carlyle entity wasn't prepared,'' said Philip Keevil, a senior partner in London at Compass Advisers LLP and former head of European mergers at Salomon Smith Barney Inc. ``They hadn't started selling ahead of time and now they're having trouble liquidating their positions.''
Started by David Rubenstein 21 years ago, Carlyle expanded its mortgage investments last year, selling $300 million of shares in Carlyle Capital.
``Due to recent turmoil in the market for mortgage-backed securities, the company's lenders have significantly reduced the amount they are willing to lend against the company's portfolio of U.S. government agency AAA-rated residential mortgage-backed securities,'' Carlyle Capital said today.
Blackstone Profit Falls 89% on Credit Market Meltdown
(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's largest buyout fund, said fourth-quarter profit plunged 89 percent after a ``meltdown'' in the credit markets and warned that getting loans for takeovers will be hard in 2008.
Profit excluding costs tied to its June initial public offering declined to $88 million, or 8 cents a share, from $808.1 million, or 72 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Blackstone fell as much as 5.2 percent in New York trading as earnings missed analysts' estimates.
``Credit market problems persist and if anything have gotten worse,'' Blackstone President Tony James said on a conference call with reporters today. ``We're looking to 2009 before we see much of an improvement.''
Blackstone, which has lost 55 percent of its market value since the IPO, hasn't completed a takeover of more than $2 billion in five months as credit costs doubled and the LBO market shut down. It's struggling to close the $6.6 billion buyout of Alliance Data Systems Corp., the Dallas-based credit- card processor, announced in May.
Earnings were hurt by a decline in fees earned by completing acquisitions and a writedown of its investment in New York-based bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. Blackstone invested $2.33 billion of capital in the quarter, down 31 percent from a year earlier.
Net Loss
``Among the risks are that LBO financing conditions continue to worsen and erode Blackstone's ability to earn sufficient private-equity returns,'' Bank of America Corp. analyst Michael Hecht wrote in a March 6 report to investors. Hecht, who is based in New York, cut his fourth-quarter estimate to 11 cents from 25 cents. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 20 cents a share.
Blackstone fell 55 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $14.03 at 10:17 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. It earlier fell to $13.82, the lowest since the IPO.
Blackstone reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $170 million because of compensation costs tied to the IPO. Revenue rose 17 percent to $3.05 billion. The firm agreed to buy GSO Capital Partners LP for as much as $930 million in January to expand investments in distressed debt and leveraged loans.
``Despite the meltdown'' in credit markets, the company sees deal opportunities, especially in Asia, Chairman Stephen Schwarzman said in the statement.
Assets under management jumped 47 percent to $102.4 billion, driven by real estate, which doubled to $26.1 billion. Money-management assets rose 65 percent to $44.5 billion. Private-equity assets gained 7 percent to $31.8 billion.
Blackstone as Proxy
LBO financing evaporated last July as banks and investors pulled out of the market amid the fallout from rising subprime- mortgage delinquencies. The value of deals announced in the second half of 2007 plunged two-thirds from the first six months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
``We're a proxy for the credit markets,'' Blackstone President Hamilton James said at the Super Returns private equity conference in Munich on Feb 26.
Still, seven of the eight analysts who rate Blackstone recommend clients buy the stock, including Hecht. The other recommendation is a ``hold.''
Other publicly traded companies that make private-equity investments also have suffered. New York-based Fortress Investment Group LLC has fallen 58 percent in the past year, while 3i Group Plc of London has lost 42 percent.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Gold's glitter lures buyers
(Reuters) - Gold's near vertical climb to historic highs approaching the key $1,000 mark shows no sign of abating as bullish forces such as a sinking dollar and record high oil are not seen fading anytime soon.
Fears that expensive oil will stoke inflation combined with worries over potential stock market losses and the U.S. on the brink of possible economic recession will propel gold higher still, analysts say.
"Don't be surprised to see gold trade up to $1,100 (an ounce) or even $1,200 before year-end 2008," said Jeffrey Nichols, managing director of American Precious Metals Advisors.
"And, with the right confluence of economic and geopolitical developments, we could see gold spike to $1,500 or even $2,000 in the next few years," he said.
Gold hit a record high of $991.90 an ounce on Thursday and was at $986.90/987.40 at 1144 GMT. It has jumped 20 percent this year, 56 percent in the past 12 months, doubled in about 2 years and surged from a low of around $250 in August 1999.
It was previously fixed at a record high of $850 in January 1980 as high inflation linked to strong oil, Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the impact of the Iranian revolution prompted investors to heavily buy gold. After adjusting for inflation, the 1980 high was $2,119.30 at 2007 prices.
The market has ridden waves of investor buying, which lifted prices nearly 50 percent in the past six months, ignoring a handful of negative factors, with most players betting on even higher prices this year and next.
Money-Market Rate for Euros Climbs to Seven-Week High
(Bloomberg) -- The cost of borrowing euros for three months rose to the highest level in seven weeks as the coordinated effort by central banks to revive lending falters.
The euro interbank offered rate, or Euribor, for the loans climbed 3 basis points to 4.43 percent today, the highest since Jan. 17, the European Banking Federation said. It was the biggest gain since Jan. 25.
The increase in money-market rates adds to evidence a concerted plan by central banks to promote lending and limit the fallout from the U.S. housing slump isn't working. Banks' asset writedowns and credit losses exceeded $181 billion since the beginning of 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Total writedowns may top $600 billion, UBS said last week.
``This will continue to be the story for all 2008,'' said Nathalie Fillet, a senior interest-rate strategist at BNP Paribas SA in London. ``It's less a pure liquidity squeeze like at the end of last year than a reflection that the global credit crisis will last a while.''
Borrowing costs fell earlier this year after policy makers from the U.S., U.K., euro region, Switzerland and Canada announced plans on Dec. 12 to counter the credit shortage. The ECB injected a record $500 billion into the banking system on Dec. 18. The Federal Reserve provided $160 billion in short-term loans since mid-December in six auctions through the Term Auction Facility.
OIS Spread
The difference between the rate banks charge for one-month dollar loans in London relative to the overnight indexed swap rate, the so-called Libor OIS spread used by the Fed as the minimum bid level at its auctions, suggested a decline in the availability of funds. The spread increased to 54 basis points today, from 30 basis points in the week ended Feb. 22. It averaged 6 basis points in the first half of 2007 and 41 basis points since then.
Overnight indexed swaps are derivatives in which one party agrees to pay a fixed rate in exchange for receiving the average of a floating central bank rate over the life of the swap. For swaps based in U.S. dollars, the floating rate is the daily effective federal funds rate.
The difference, or spread, between the three-month money- market rate and the European Central Bank's benchmark rate was 43 basis points. It averaged 25 basis points in the first half of 2007.
``The leverage crunch is unlikely to disappear over the next few weeks,'' Stuart Thomson, a money manager who helps oversee $46 billion in bonds at Glasgow, Scotland-based Resolution Investment Management Ltd., said in an e-mailed note today.
Ambac to Sell Half the Company, Bet May Not Pay Off
(Bloomberg) -- Ambac Financial Group Inc., the bond insurer seeking capital to salvage its AAA credit rating, will sell half the company in a bet some investors say won't pay off.
Ambac said yesterday it plans to issue $1 billion of common stock, more than doubling the number of shares outstanding. The New York-based company will also offer $500 million of units that convert to shares in 2011.
Investors had anticipated Ambac would be bailed out by banks, which would backstop a capital raising of as much as $3 billion, enough to overcome record losses on subprime-mortgage debt. Instead, the company announced it would raise half that amount in a transaction that would dilute existing shareholders, sending Ambac down 19 percent in New York Stock Exchange trading.
``The new offering is highly diluting to existing shareholders,'' Jim Ryan, an insurance analyst at Morningstar Inc. said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ``The market was looking for a backstop, to say the least.''
The sale of common stock, managed by Credit Suisse Group, Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and UBS AG, is scheduled for tonight, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Ambac fell 26 cents to $8.44 in early New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have tumbled 90 percent in the past year, reducing the company's market value to $884 million.
Abandoned Plan
By proposing a sale of common shares, Ambac is reverting to a plan it abandoned in mid-January. The company announced a $1 billion sale Jan. 16, sparking a 70 percent plunge in its stock, and canceled the offering Jan. 18.
Ambac cut its dividend to 1 cent from 21 cents a share and said it will suspend writing guarantees on debt, including mortgage-backed bonds. The combined plans will probably bolster capital enough for an AAA rating, Moody's and S&P said yesterday.
Stock investors were ``expecting something different in terms of some type of a more orchestrated event that looked less like a conventional offering of common stock and more like a carefully crafted infusion from business partners,'' said Colin Glinsman, who oversees about $25 billion as chief investment officer at Oppenheimer Capital in New York.
Credit-default swaps tied to Ambac's AAA rated insurance unit rose 38 basis points to 513 basis points from 475 basis points before the announcement, according to CMA Datavision in London. A basis point on a credit-default swap contract protecting $10 million of debt from default for five years is equivalent to $1,000 a year.
CDO Losses
Credit-default swaps are financial instruments based on bonds and loans that are used to speculate on a company's ability to repay debt. They pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a borrower fail to adhere to its debt agreements. A rise indicates deterioration in the perception of credit quality; a decline, the opposite.
Ambac, its larger competitor MBIA Inc., and the rest of the industry stumbled after expanding beyond municipal insurance to guarantees on collateralized debt obligations that have since tumbled in value. Bond insurers with AAA ratings have guaranteed $2.4 trillion of debt.
The loss of Ambac's top rating would cast doubt on $556 billion of municipal and asset-backed securities insured by the company, forcing some investors to sell the debt and others to reduce their holdings.
Ambac, which pioneered municipal bond insurance in 1971, and the rest of the industry are reeling from their expansion into CDOs, which package pools of securities then split them into pieces with different ratings.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Staples Net Income Falls 1% on Lower Retail Sales
(Bloomberg) -- Staples Inc., the world's largest office-supplies retailer, said fourth-quarter profit fell 1 percent on lower North American retail sales to small companies and consumers.
Staples dropped in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
Net income declined to $333.2 million, or 47 cents a share, from $336.5 million, or 46 cents, a year earlier, Staples said today in a statement. Profit met some analysts' estimates. Revenue for the three months ended Feb. 2 rose less than 1 percent to $5.32 billion. Staples cut its full-year forecast.
Sales at U.S. and Canadian stores open at least a year dropped 6 percent. Office-supply retailers' sales slowed as customers concerned about a declining job market and the worst housing slump in a quarter century reduced purchases of copiers and desks. North American sales have also declined at smaller competitors such as Office Depot Inc.
``The environment is hitting everyone pretty hard,'' Walter Todd, who helps manage $800 million for Greenwood Capital Associates LLC in Greenwood, South Carolina, said yesterday in an interview. ``It's all macro-driven.'' The firm held 175,048 Staples shares as of Dec. 31.
The retailer predicted a ``mid single-digit'' percentage increase in sales and ``high single-digit'' percentage growth in earnings per share for the year ending next Jan. 31. Staples said in November that it expects earnings per share this year to increase by a percentage in the ``low teens,'' with ``high single-digit'' sales growth.
Staples Stock
Staples, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, fell 54 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $21.95 at 9:44 a.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The stock lost 2.5 percent of its value this year through yesterday, compared with a 20 percent decline for Office Depot, the second-largest office-supplies retailer.
``In the context of a tough retail environment, we view Staples as relatively stable,'' Jack Murphy, an analyst at William Blair & Co. in Chicago, wrote yesterday in a research note. He rates Staples shares a ``buy.''
Analysts estimated fourth-quarter profit of 47 cents a share, the average projection of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Eleven analysts, on average, estimated sales of $5.4 billion.
In November, Staples forecast a ``low double-digit'' sales growth in the fourth quarter, with North American same-store sales unchanged or ``slightly negative.''
Canada Cuts Rate a Half Point, Signals More Is Needed
(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Canada cut its benchmark interest rate a half point, the first such move since 2001, and signaled it will have to act again to offset a slump in exports to the U.S.
Mark Carney, in his first decision as governor, cut the target rate for overnight loans between commercial banks to 3.5 percent, the lowest since March 2006. Thirteen of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted the move.
``Further monetary stimulus is likely to be required in the near term,'' the central bank said today in a statement from Ottawa. Signs of economic slowdown in Canada are ``materializing and, in some respects, intensifying.''
Tumbling exports to the U.S. will limit 2008 economic growth to a seven-year low of 1.8 percent, the central bank says, and have erased the country's broad trade surplus for the first time since 1999. The bigger rate cut today also helps catch up with moves this year by the U.S. Federal Reserve, and may slow the Canadian dollar's advance that has battered manufacturers.
``There are clear signs that the U.S. economy is likely to experience a deeper and more prolonged slowdown than had been projected,'' which will have ``significant spillover effects on the global economy,'' the Bank of Canada said today.
Canada's decision comes two days before meetings of the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank, where economists predict policy makers will keep rates unchanged.
Further Cuts
``With further rate cuts clearly needed to insure against the downside risks from a rapidly softening U.S. economy, and since monetary policy acts with a lag, we see no reason for the Bank of Canada to wait,'' Jacqui Douglas, economics strategist at TD Securities in Toronto, said before the decision.
The Fed is expected to cut borrowing costs again on March 18. Canada's benchmark is now half a point greater than that of the U.S., narrowing what was the biggest gap since June 2004. That premium has helped keep Canada's currency close to a record high.
The currency rose to a record 90.58 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar on Nov. 7 and has gained 26 percent in three years. Today it weakened 0.3 percent to 99.32 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar at 9:19 a.m. in Toronto.
Canada sends about three-quarters of its exports to the U.S., making the two countries the world's biggest trading partners, and the high dollar makes those goods less competitive. The U.S. economic woes have sapped demand for Canadian lumber and automobiles, two of the five biggest exports.
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