Financial Update For March 23, 2010

• TSX +19.19 .
• DOW +43.91
• Dollar -.24c to 98.15cUS The Canadian dollar touched a one-week low against the U.S. dollar, weakened by mixed commodity prices and uncertainty about Europe's handling of Greece's debt
• Oil +$.63 to $81.60US per barrel.
• Gold -$8.10 to $1,099.50 USD per ounce

Fight over real estate fees not over
Michael Babad Globe and Mail
The fight over the Multiple Listing Service run by Canada's realtors isn't over yet. The Canadian Real Estate Association said today it approved changes that would give home buyers and sellers more power over their transactions on MLS. Under the change, a consumer will now be able to pay an agent a flat fee to list on the service, where about nine out of 10 of all deals are done. Agents must now pass along a seller's home phone number, if that's what the seller wants, to a potential buyer if asked. The association said in a statement that it believes it has now addressed the issues raised by the Competition Bureau, which has taken the issue to the Competition Tribunal.
But the Competition Bureau immediately responded that it plans to continue to challenge the “anti-competitive rules that deny consumer choice and stifle competition” despite the CREA changes.
“There is nothing in these proposals that we haven't seen before and they do not solve the problem,” Melanie Aitken, the Commissioner of Competition, said in a statement. “They are a step in the wrong direction. These amendments amount to a blank cheque allowing CREA and its members to create rules that could have even greater anti-competitive consequences.”
The bureau said CREA's amendments do not remove “existing roadblocks to real estate agents who list properties on the MLS from offering innovative services and pricing options to consumers.”