Sales and earnings up at Nova Scotia Liquor in most recent quarter + MORE Oct 22nd

TORONTO – The Canadian dollar was lower Wednesday as traders considered data showing a worse than expected reading on retail sales in August and looked ahead to the mid-morning announcement on interest rates by the Bank of Canada.
The loonie declined 0.17 of a cent to 88.89 cents US as Statistics Canada reported retail sales fell 0.3 per cent overall during August. Economists had expected a flat reading.
The central bank is universally expected to leave its key rate at one per cent, where it has stood since September 2010 as the global economy continues to recover from the 2009 financial collapse and subsequent recession. The bank also releases its latest Monetary Policy Report containing its latest assessments on economic growth and inflation.
Analysts say the MPR will likely reflect increasing worries about global economic performance, the same concerns that helped trigger a major retracement on equity markets over the last month.
“The central bank has been highlighting such risks for most of this year, so we see few reasons for a departure, despite the still resilient readings from U…

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Top of the Morning
Forget what you’ve heard: the herd is usually right. However, when it comes to what government bond yields would do this year, the consensus has been very, very off the mark.
Per MarketWatch:
Just about six months ago, a headline flashed across the top of MarketWatch’s home page. It read: “100% of economists think yields will rise within six months.”…
On Tuesday, the 10-year note traded at a yield of 2.21%, almost four-tenths of a percentage point lower than in April. Let’s not forget that the yield unexpectedly dipped below 2%, just last week.
That underscores the difficulty of calling the direction of interest rates. It also makes all 67 economists wrong
On the Homefront
Huge swings have become common fare on Bay Street. In fact, the last time Canada’s benchmark index failed to rise or fall by more than 100 points in one session came before the Toronto Maple Leafs played their first game of the year. On Tuesday, the TSX had its best day of the year, with virtually everything except gold miners posting gains, and attractively-valued energy stocks fuelling the index’s big day…

HALIFAX – Sales of locally produced wine, cider and craft beer went up over the summer at Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. outlets.
The Crown corporation says total sales between June 30 and Sept. 28 reached $169 million, a slight increase when compared with the same period last year.
Profits rose by $2.1 million to $69 million.
The company says the sale of cider and craft beer had especially big gains, up 62.8 per cent to $400,000 and 28.9 per cent to $1.5 million, respectively.
Wine sales went up 9.4 per cent to $3.5 million.
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(Note to readers: If you’ve not read my Financial Independence blog before, it may seem that today’s blog is more related to health than personal finance. Bear with us, though, because today’s topic of dementia is highly correlated with longevity. The longer you live, the more you need to consider the financial implications of health issues like dementia.)
One of the themes I’ve been exploring lately has been longevity—the notion that most of us can expect to live longer than our parents and grandparents. That assumes a lot of things, such as adopting healthy lifestyles, being blessed with good genes and not engaging in harmful behaviours. And of course, as the current Ebola scare reminds us, there’s no shortage of external circumstances that can render moot the idea of extended personal longevity.
But let’s be optimistic. If financial planners reckon on a lifespan of 90 or 95 years for the average client, let’s assume we at least reach our 90s. The unfortunate aspect of this is that while our good habits and advances in medical science may stave off such unwelcome events as heart disease or cancer, it also means there is a greater chance of succumbing to dementia…