The new North American trading week began on Monday, March 19^th with investors caught in the crosshairs of the major markets that seemingly gyrated at random from multi-point up or down days.

The Canadian Federal Government announced they will work with the provinces of Ontario and Quebec to provide a 5G wireless corridor from Toronto to Ottawa and Montreal.

Alio Gold ‘ALO-T’ and Rye Patch Gold ‘RPM-V’ announced the companies will merge on a 53% – 47% basis to form a 165,000-ounce gold producer.

Similarly, the price of Klondex Mines ‘KDX-T’ soared up by almost 59^% to $2.86 on word the junior gold producer had agreed to a cash & stock takeover from Hecla Mining ‘HL-N’.

Facebook Inc. ‘FB-N’ shares’ sank by almost 7^% to US$172.51 on word that data firm Cambridge Analytica had managed to collect data on 50-million Facebook users in order to enhance the Donald Trump election campaign.

Tuesday, March 20^th saw the price of Antibe Therapeutic ‘ATE-V’ stock soar up by 78^% to $0.64 after the company’s lead drug ATB-346 met its primary endpoint in a Phase 2B gastrointestinal safety study.

Ballard Power ‘BLDP-T’ shares’ rose by almost 10^% to $4.59 after the alternative energy company announced a trial deal to supply delivery giant United Parcal Service ‘UPS-N’ with fuel cell modules.

The price of First Quantum Minerals ‘FM-T’ shares’ dropped by over 12^% to $18.00 after Zambia’s tax collection agency announced the miner had not reported some $8-billion in unspecified taxes.

New U.S. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell did as expected on Wednesday, March 21^st by announcing the central bank was raising the country’s benchmark overnight lending rate by another 0.25^% to the 1.50^% – 1.75^% range.

The National Association of Realtors reported that the median American home price rose by 5.9^% in the past year to US$241,700.

BRP Inc. ‘DOO-T’ shares’ surged up by 9.5^% to $49.88 after the SkiDoo & SeaDoo recreation vehicle manufacturer reported a healthy 4^th-quarter financial report and better yet – raised its quarterly dividend by 12.5^%.

Conversely, the price of General Mills ‘GIS-N’ stock dropped by almost 9^% to US$45.51 after the giant foods company sighted higher freight and commodity costs for lowering its earnings forecast for the rest of 2018.

Thursday, March 22^nd had the markets drop across the board after the U.S. Government announced some US$60-billion of proposed tariffs against goods imported from China.

Marijuana stocks rose in unison after the Canadian Senate approved the Federal Government’s recreational marijuana legislation.

Eldorado Gold ‘ELD-T’ shares’ fell by 11^% to $1.20 after the miner announced year-end 2017 production figures that failed to meet the market’s expectations and worse yet – suspended its quarterly dividend as a cost saving measure.

Statistics Canada announced on Friday, March 23^rd that the nation’s inflation rate rose by a higher than expected 0.5^% in February to an annualized 2.2^%.

Petroleum industry consultant Baker Hughes ‘BHGE-N’ reported that the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 5-rigs last week to 995 active drilling rigs. On the north side of the border – the number of active Canadian rigs fell by 68-rigs to just 161 active drilling rigs.

Leonovus Inc. ‘LTV-V’ shares’ soared up by over 42^% to $0.24 after the company announced a proof of concept company had purchased its Leonovous 3.0 blockchain technology.

During the Week – The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX rose to a new 2-month high of 24.87.

Brick Brewing ‘BRB-T’ at $4.75, InterRent REIT ‘IIP.UN-T’ at $10.21 and Mitel Networks ‘MNW-T’ at $12.52 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Africa Oil ‘AOI-T’ at $1.23, Enbridge Inc. ‘ENB-T’ at $38.40 and Tricon Capital ‘TCN-T’ at $9.82 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow industrials fell by 5.67^% to 23,533, with the S&P 500 down by 6.0^% to 2,588 and the NASDAQ Exchange off by 6.53^% to 6,993. To the north – the TSX Composite Index dropped by 3.10^% to 15,224 and the TSX Venture Exchange was lower by 1.92^% to 818.

With Commodities – gold bullion gained 3.13^% to US$1,353, while copper lost 4.18^% to US$2.98, as crude oil rose by 5.61^% to US$65.91 and natural gas fell by 3.31^% to US$2.63. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodity Index was off by 1.13^% to end the week at 339.

The Canadian dollar gained 1.35^% against the American greenback to finish the week at US$0.7769.

And the closely watched CBOE volatility Index or VIX surged higher by 9.07-points to end the week a much more nervous level of 24.87.

And Finally – No sooner than we hear of the potential abuse of client data coming from social media site Facebook ‘FB-Q’ and now we see that Farmers Business Network has signed up and is beginning to collect data on over 200 Canadian prairie farmers.