The new North American trading week began on Monday. March 12^th with investors hopeful that for the most part – February’s abrupt correction was over and that better markets were ahead. To which technical analysts David Tippin & Ron Meisels commented – “The February low was clearly an important low, but whether it was the final low in this corrective phase remains to be seen.” (For a complete copy of this report please contact Rod.Blake@canaccord.com.)

Assure Holdings ‘IOM-V’ shares’ plunged by over 55^% to $1.70 on word that the neuromonitoring company’s auditors had resigned.

The price of Cara Operations ‘CARA-T’ rose by 12^% to $26.99 after the restaurant group holding company reported better than expected 4^th-quarter and annual financials.

Tuesday, March 13^th had the White House issue a Presidential Order to block semiconductor giant Broadcom Limited’s. ‘AVGO-Q’ proposed takeover of Qualcomm Inc. ‘QCOM-Q’ as it was deemed to be a threat to the national security of the United States.

A recent Harris Poll Reputation Quotient poll report that – for a third consecutive year – Amazon.com ‘AMZN-Q’ was once again the world’s most recognized corporate brand.

The price of Canada Jetlines ‘JET-V’ plunged by over24.5^% to $1.07 on Wednesday, March 14^th after the upstart air carrier delayed its June launch date due to a shortage of aircraft.

Signet Jewelers ‘SIG-N’ shares’ dropped by over 20^% to US$38.19 after the retailer said it would be closing over 200-stores in the coming fiscal year.

Thursday, March 15^th saw most pipeline stocks fall in tandem after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced it was voiding some tax allowances for users of American pipelines.

Arizona Mining ‘AZ-T’ stock rose by 9.5^% to $4.27 after the company reported more encouraging drill hole zinc assays from its Hermosa-Taylor Project in Arizona.

The price of Element Fleet ‘EFN-T’ sank by aver 24^% to $3.78 after the vehicle fleet company announced a number of cost saving initiatives.

The U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday, March 16^th that American employers were looking to fill a record 6.3-million jobs in January.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian manufacturing sales fell by a greater-than-expected 1^% in January to $53.9-billion.

Petroleum industry analyst Baker Hughes ‘BHGE’ reported that the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 6-rigs last week to 990 active drilling rigs, while the number of active Canadian rigs fell by 54-rigs to just 219 active drilling rigs.

The price of Zscaler Inc. ‘ZS-N’ surged up by 102^% to US$32.35 on the global cloud security company’s first day of trading.

During the Week – CAE Inc. ‘CAE-T’ at $24.07, Pollard Banknote ‘PBL-T’ at $23.55 and Waste Connections ‘WCN-T’ at $97.24 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Alamos Gold ‘AGI-T’ at $6.19, Callidus Capital ‘CBL-T’ at $7.16 and TSO3 Inc. ‘TOS-T’ at $1.16 all dropped to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials fell by 1.54^% to 24,947, with the S&P 500 off by 1.29^% to 2,751 and the NASDAQ Exchange down by 1.04^% to 7,482. To the north – the TSX Composite index rose by 0.85^% to 15,711 and the TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.60^% to 834.

With Commodities – gold bullion was off by 0.76^% to US$1,314, with copper down by 0.96^% to US$3.11, while crude oil gained 0.63^% to US$62.31 while natural gas was unchanged at US$2.73. Overall, the CRB Spot Commodity Index fell by 0.23^% to finish the week at 444.

The Canadian dollar fell by 2.11^% against its American cousin to end the week at US$0.7638.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX rose by 1.06-points to finish the week at a little more nervous level of 15.70.

And Finally – Equifax Canada reported that the country’s consumer debt rose by 6^% in the 2017 to a record $1.821-trillion.