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Week of March 8, 2010

In the U.S. last week, there was a significant amount of economic data released, but the focus was on the monthly employment report. The headline employment report for February came in at -36,000, which was worse then the previous month, however was still above the expectations which called for a -68,000 contraction, due to the heavy snow storms.

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Week of March 1, 2010

Within the Weekly Market Strategy recently published on February 8, we highlighted the possibility of Brookfield Properties (BPO) embarking on a restructuring effort aimed at driving tax efficiencies and value creation for shareholders. We were of the view that the merits of such a restructuring appear compelling and would indeed surface shareholder value.

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Week of February 22, 2010

With roughly 80% of S&P 500 members having reported so far, the Q4/09 U.S. earnings season is coming in above expectations. As highlighted in Exhibit 1, the S&P 500 “beat ratio” of 73% stands above the last 10-year average of 64%, and only a few percentage points shy of the 80% mark reached in Q3/09.

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Week of February 8, 2010

Although Euro Sovereign risks and U.S. jobs have been getting a lot of press lately, the equity pullback has more to do with EURO sovereign risks (Exhibit 1). U.S. job trends still show improvements, but not growth yet. Estimates (and hopes) of positive payrolls early in 2010 were premature, in our opinion, hence the recent disappointment. However, ISM employment components, increase in hours worked and wages, the slowing pace of layoffs, and the ADP private payroll report all show positive trends.

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