Dec. 10, 2006: Banking -&- Dollar

CIBC: Cost cutting pushed CIBC earnings to record , canada.com / CanWest

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.ht
ml?id=c3ff6e9e-70bf-41c8-be12-39e9493a143c&k=41756

[....] The bank announced net income for the quarter of $819-million, up from $728-million a year ago. [....]

Interestingly, Dec. 9, 06, the Globe and Mail's business section had two photos of Frank McKenna, ex-Ambassador to the US, one on the cover, Toronto Dominion Bank related, and a second photo of him within. What is planned for Frank that he gets that kind of coverage? This is the guy who needed 68-72 (accounts vary) spin doctors to massage his message while he was Premier of NB. He was in Saint John to hand a cheque for $150,000 from the TD Bank toward some charitable endeavour within the last year, as I recall. It may have been an MRI for the hospital, but check. Frank gets much positive media exposure. He must go fishing in the right pools.



Meanwhile, the US dollar is falling. (Financial Intelligence, John Brown, December 10, 2006, NewsMax.com)

In a rare moment of agreement among economists, David Greenlaw (Morgan Stanley) and Steve Gallagher (Societe Generale) both said on this morning’s CNBC Morning Call that the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve were content to allow the U.S. dollar continue slipping.

This concurs with the cover article on the Economist (Dec. 2-8), which depicts a horrified George Washington under the headline, “The Falling Dollar.”

Didn't the TD Bank expand, opening branches on the Eastern Seaboard? What happens if the dollar plunges?


Paulson Sees 'Sustained Expansion' of Economy , Dec. 8, 2006

www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/
2006/12/8/120019.shtml?s=mo

[....] "We're also seeing this job creation starting to translate into real wage growth for the average working family in America," Paulson told CNBC TV in an interview after data showed 132,000 jobs were created last month, adding: [....]

Consumers Less Cheery As Holidays Near , NewsMax.com Wires, Dec. 8, 2006

www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/
2006/12/8/122503.shtml?s=mo

[....] People also are nervous about how much the value of their home will be hurt by the housing slump, a development that would affect how wealthy people feel and their willingness to spend, economists said. [....]

Check for a related article on NewsMax: Warren Buffett is betting billions the dollar will crash in 2007