Financial Update

· TSX +165.82
· Dow -38.27
· Dollar +.64c to $97.80
· Oil -$.25 to $134.61US per barrel
· Gold + $13.60US to $883.600US

Bond Rates: <http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/bonds.html> http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/bonds.html

Canadian real estate boom over, statistics indicate
Fri Jun 13, 5:30 PM

The real estate market has run out of steam, a report from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) suggests.

"Canadian housing market activity continued to slide in May, confirming that the six-year housing boom has, indeed, fizzled, and the poor winter results were not just weather- and holiday-related," Bank of Montreal economic analyst Robert Kavcic said in a commentary.
He based his comment on the CREA monthly report on 25 major markets, released Friday, which shows that volumes and prices are slowing or falling compared to May 2007.

- Unit sales fell 16.9 per cent in May to 35,040.

- Total dollar volume fell 16 per cent to $11.8 billion.

- Average housing prices in May were up only 1.1 per cent, the smallest year-over-year increase in more than seven years.

"Rising food, fuel and home prices are denting consumer confidence," CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said in a news release.

But he noted there were more listings in May than ever, a record 54,029, up 2.2 per cent from April.

The drop in seasonally adjusted sales was driven by drops in Vancouver, Regina and Saskatoon, offsetting increases in Toronto, Ottawa and London-St. Thomas.

The average price of a May sale, $337,071, ranged from a high of $624,639 in Vancouver to a low of $139,936 in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Over the past year, the biggest percentage increase was in Regina - up 44.9 per cent to $235,458 - while the biggest drop was in Windsor-Essex, Ont., down 5.5 per cent to $159,682.
Prices fell by less than five per cent in Calgary and Edmonton and rose substantially in Saskatoon, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saint John, N.B.

Financial Update

· TSX +176
· Dow +166
· Dollar -.57c to $97.16
· Oil -$1.88 to $134.86US per barrel
· Gold + $1.10US to $870.30US
Bond Rates: <http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/bonds.html> http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/bonds.html

Financial Update

· TSX fell further -113.93(Reuters) - Weak resource issues sent the TSX's main index
tumbling for the 5th day in a row as commodity prices spent much of the day in negative
territory
· Dow +57.81. stocks got a boost from stronger than expected retail sales, as well as the bid
for Anheuser-Busch, which would create the world's largest brewer.
· Dollar +.23c to $98.04
· Oil +.36 to $136.74US per barrel
· Gold - $10.50US to $869.20US
Bond Rates: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/bonds.html

Mortgage rates rising after central bank move

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June 13, 2008 Record staff and news servicesBank of Montreal is hiking its residential mortgage rates by up to 85 basis points, joining Royal Bank, TD Canada Trust and CIBC in increasing the cost of borrowing to buy a home. The increases follow the Bank of Canada's decision to leave its benchmark overnight rate unchanged at three per cent. CIBC kicked off the current round of mortgage-rate adjustments on Wednesday. TD Bank raised its rates by as much as 85 basis points and Royal Bank said yesterday it will boost its rates by up to half a point.