House prices too high, as oil heads south of $65 + MORE Dec 11th

This GIC rate is offered by DUCA Financial Services and was updated on 2014-11-28. Click on the link above to get more details or apply online.

House prices are high, and the loonie is low – as oil dipped below $65 yesterday for both US and global benchmarks, the TSX sunk, and the Bank of Canada warned (again) of an over-heated housing market.
The Day Ahead
Oil heads south of US $65. Oil prices are under $65 for the first time in five years, and despite some small gains this morning, remain between that five-dollar range. Brent lost almost 5% yesterday alone, bouncing back slightly to close at USD $64.24, while West Texas Intermediate ended the day at $60.94. They were both up less than a dollar around 3 a.m. Toronto time.
Big reserves, lowered demand. The price drop was blamed on new information yesterday from both the US and OPEC. Remember when oil jumped last week on a belief that US reserves weren’t as large as expected? That was a red herring – the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that the country’s oil inventories actually rose by 1.5 million barrels last week – when analysts had predicted a decrease of twice that amount…

TOKYO – European stock markets opened with slight gains Thursday after a nosedive in Asia as falling oil prices reinforced jitters about a sluggish global economy.
KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 was up 0.2 per cent at 4,235.37 in early trading while Germany’s DAX perked up 0.2 per cent to 9,819.20. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.1 per cent to 6,506.76. Dow futures augured a rebound on Wall Street, rising 0.3 per cent to 17,592. S&P 500 futures were up 0.3 per cent at 2,032.10
ENERGY: Oil was slightly higher after tumbling Wednesday. The price of oil has now dropped more than 40 per cent from a peak of $107 in June because of weak demand and oversupply. An OPEC report has projected that demand for its crude would sink next year to levels not seen in more than a decade. On Thursday, benchmark U.S. crude was up 25 cents at $61.19 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dived $2.88 to close at $60.94 a barrel on Wednesday
ASIA’S DAY: Tokyo’s benchmark, the Nikkei 225, fell 0…

This GIC rate is offered by Oaken Financial and was updated on 2014-10-06. Click on the link above to get more details or apply online.

WASHINGTON – Growing opposition among Democrats and persistent opposition from the tea party Republicans has left a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill teetering as many lawmakers find more in the measure to dislike than like.
Two items are particularly toxic to Democrats whose votes will be needed to pass the measure, neither of which was disclosed until late in this week’s negotiations on the bill. One would weaken the regulation of risky financial instruments and another would allow rich people to flood political parties with more cash.
A provision aimed at shoring up financially weak multiemployer pension fund was drawing fire from AARP and some union allies of Democrats over a major change in labour law that would permit plans to cut the pensions of current retirees.
At the same time, tea party Republicans remained unhappy that GOP leaders didn’t use the bill to try to block President Barack Obama’s controversial recent moves on immigration.
Many Democrats tended to focus more on the bad than the good since the 1,603-page bill was released late Tuesday…