Calgary real estate market continues to cool as house sales drop for 20th month in a row + MORE Aug 2nd

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily on Tuesday:
Royal Caribbean Corp., down $4.51 to $67.35
The cruise line operator cut its forecasts for the year as the strong dollar continues to affect its results.
General Motors Co., down $1.37 to $29.93
GM and Ford said their U.S. sales fell in July and investors worried that U.S. auto sales may have peaked.
Delta Air Lines Inc., down $3.09 to $36.39
Airlines fell after Delta said a revenue measurement slipped in July.
CVS Health Corp., up $4.57 to $98.06
The drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager raised its 2016 forecasts after it reported its quarterly results.
Discovery Communications Inc., up $1.65 to $26.42
The company behind TLC, Animal Planet and other channels, reported a profit that was larger than analysts expected.
Seagate Technology PLC, down $1.78 to $30.65
The electronic storage company’s profit and sales were better than analysts expected.
Mallinckrodt PLC, up $9.54 to $76.91
The drugmaker, which has seen its stock tumble over the last year, rebounded after its second-quarter report…

A tote board displays the closing figure for the TSX in Toronto THE CANADIAN PRESS
It’s a safe bet most Canadians have never heard of MCAP Corp., but the suits on Bay Street were watching it closely last month as the mortgage lender readied itself to go public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The plan was for the Toronto-based firm to raise $275 million in an initial public offering, which would have made it the biggest IPO this country has seen since part of Ontario’s Hydro One electric utility was spun off last November. Actually, it would have been the first new Canadian company to list its shares on the TSX this year.
The first. In all of 2016.
Well, that was the idea at least. With Britain’s decision to exit the European Union roiling markets, MCAP pulled the plug on its plans to go public and breath life into Canada’s IPO market.
Now consider this: so far this year Canada’s main stock exchange has attracted close to 50 IPOs. How can that be?
Simple, the majority of listings hitting the TSX these days are not companies in the way most people think of them, which is as businesses that innovate ideas, produce goods or services and employ workers…

For the last several years, American equities have been the go-to investment for many Canadians. U.S. stocks, beaten down so badly after the recession, were inexpensive, while the nation’s economy was rebounding in a big way, which helped its equity markets. Over the last five years the S&P 500 has climbed by 62% compared to 6% for the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
While the U.S. is still a bright spot among developed nations—the IMF is expecting 3.2% GDP growth this year, better than Canada and Europe—it’s not the no-brainer nation that it once was, says Colin Wong, co-manager of Mawer Investment Management’s five-star Morningstar rated U.S. Equity Fund. He thinks the country is showing some cracks: its high debt load is approaching record levels and uncertainty around rising interest rates, especially the impact that will have on corporate debt, is a concern.
Still, there’s so much more to choose from in the U.S. than in Canada and many sectors, like health care and technology, are far more robust down south…

Calgary’s real estate picture continues to diverge from the hot markets in Toronto and Vancouver with a 20th consecutive month of declining home sales in July.

TORONTO – The Canadian animation studio behind “Thomas & Friends” and the Elton John-produced film “Gnomeo & Juliet” says it has filed for bankruptcy and locked out its staff.
Arc Productions, once considered one of the rising stars of the country’s animated film industry, had a letter posted outside its downtown Toronto headquarters on Tuesday saying that “significant financial difficulties and a liquidity crisis” left the company’s managers in a “financial emergency.”
Chief executive Tom Murray told staff in the message that Arc’s lenders went to court on Friday to request a court-appointed monitor to oversee control of the business.
Deloitte Restructuring Inc., is expected to take on the job of handling the company’s finances, which include unpaid wages to Arc’s animators and office staff. A request for comment from Deloitte was not immediately returned.
The financial troubles come seven years after Arc — then known as the Starz Animation Studio — received funding from the provincial government to grow its business…