Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 14, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Ort Garry Call 942 8251 Winnipeg free press March 2001 b3 editor Julian Rachey 6977235 will Consumers shut wallets economists debate How much chill markets fall will put on spending by Gillian Livingston Toronto the Stock Market wealth of investors is evaporating As North american exchanges which could eat away at consumer Confidence and squeeze economists it will have an that for said Mark a senior economist at to Bank in the Only Issue is How much an Impact you really North american particularly technology have been battered in recent worsened recently As Blu Chip technology and Industrial giants join Dot Corn companies with announcements of layoffs and slashed profit and growth this both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Nash a hit their Low est Levels in two evaporating Bil Lions of dollars of investor wealth some on some what exact effect that vaporization of wealth can have on Consumers spending patterns and the Overall a bit of a but undoubtedly its negative and it hurts consumer conf said Rick Deputy chief economist at Bank of households that have Money in and that reduces their you Are going to see a decline in spend ing As a result of he but the magnitude of the spending and Over what time it will is harder to figure the most direct Impact is probably in terms of Peoples Egel ton As they see a Stream of bad news about the Economy and the mar in the investors Are definitely feeling the financial Pinch from the technology Stock free even if the losses Are Only on in a whole lot lamented Sally a retired homemaker in who estimates her portfolio is Down about 30 per cent from last if i needed the Money right id have to Settle for a lot some studies that look at the wealth effect and its relation to consumer spending indicate that a decline in the value of Stock wealth leads to a two to three cent drop in consumer spend Levesque Bank stocks lift tse out of its techno Funk by James Dalziel Stephen camera associated press trader works at Chicago mercantile Market mood stayed that relatively he the wealth effect tends to be Small and spread out Over a relatively Long time roughly about two some estimates say North american markets have lost about trillion in that would mean a whopping billion decline in consumer spend following that another estimate is that the spending Cut is about five per cent of the amount of wealth Egelton that tends to be a Rule of but the estimates around that Are wide rang he its very difficult to get a handle on but its Safe to say its neg but i dont think this is the thing that going to push the Economy into a Egelton continued please see spending b4 Toronto Canadian Bank stocks lifted the Toronto Stock Market out of its technology driven Funk yesterday while bargain Hunters emerged to halt the tech meltdown on Wall the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite Index Rose Points to after mondays 205point drop resulted in a 15month the financial services sector managed a per cent the fact that we Haven retraced much of what we lost yesterday is really said Katherine senior technical analyst at Standard poors the markets Are still i think were going to continue to get Choppy activity in new the Nash a closed up Points at a per cent taking Back much of mondays 129point the Dow industrials Rose just to or less than one per after losing 436 Points and the Stan Dard poors 500 Index gained to continued please see markets b4 giant Iga springing up at Northdale shopping mall by Aldo Santin a suburban shopping Centre will get a million Facelift this construction has begun on a Square foot Garden Market Iga at the Northdale shopping Centre on Hen Derson Highway in East Ross Ransby of Bachman property management said the new grocery store will replace the existing Penners which will be redeveloped once the new store opens in the Ransby said in addition to the new grocery the existing liquor control commission outlet at the Back of the site will be expanded and reoriented with a new frontage facing Hender son Ransby said the new grocery store will be the largest Iga in the other Garden Market stores that Iga has built in the last few years have been Square Iga is building another Garden mar Ket store on Bishop Grandin at Annes where Home depot is that will bring the number of the Large format Garden Market Iga stores in Winnipeg to Ransby said the shopping Centre is owned by a group of local the investment he has bought the existing Penners Iga build ing and will own the new Garden mar Ket Iga which will be leased to Ransby said plans Are still in flux As to what will be done to the old Penners grocery at the old grocery store is too Large for a single Ransby said that it will probably be reduced in size to Between to Square feet and then subdivided to accommodate several smaller Marc free press John Bergen left and Marc Thompson work on new Iga outlet it is really All about the Market medicare pulls offering after one week by Martin Cash resp time mixed for local vendors by Geoff Kirbyson this years resp season had its ups and Down for Winnipeg two main Mutual fund Compa Nies up for Assante and Down for investors Assante reported net sales of million for january and a jump of More than 120 per cent from million sold during the same months in investors group reported net sales of million for the first two months of Down nearly 20 per cent from million for the same period a year Bill managing director of Assante asset managements Canadian attributed the growth to a combination of the firm sticking to its strict value discipline and its More encompassing product we sell portfolio management instead of individual Mutual people see the Benefit of our integrated portfolio management especially in volatile markets like weve seen in the past 12 he said in an our numbers Are a tremendous validation of the critical importance of sticking with a Long term strategy and not changing it when ifs Assante sees healthy Rise investors disappointed during Peak sales period under performing on a Short term Henderson noted that unlike Basic stocks and its integrated wealth services for its High Petworth clients Are far less subject to Day today movements of the an investors group spokesperson could not be reached for comment James senior analyst at Toronto based research firm said this years resp season is projected to be Down any where from 20 to 30 per cent from last a lot of people were scared off from Equi ties this year even though the prudent thing to do is contribute to your resp to get the tax in not sure if it was a Lack of Edu cation or he adding the Only asset classes that have performed Well in the last year Are Bonds and he said judging from investors poor fund performance of he want surprised to hear of their year overhear decline in those Are relatively weak numbers and not that impressive for resp season when your sales Are supposed to be he Gauthier added investors slump underscores the reason behind its recent Purchase of Mackenzie financial that acquisition is a move in the right direct looking at these in sure investors groups upper management is Happy it bought Mackenzie and has new avenues to he Gauthier attributed Assantes performance to a relatively Small starting a rebound in value investing since the Dot Corn implosion last year and the growing interest across the Indus try in wrap one of Assantes main its extremely he Dan senior investment analyst at Windsor based Sterling Mutual agreed that recent Industry trends have favoured the value oriented but he want sure How Long the Good times would i dont see How it can continue unless they bring fees their management fees on a balanced portfolio Are per cent when the Industry average is Between and per most other programs also have More negotiable he medicare pulled a million equity offering yes one week after floating the Issue in a Market that was already showing signs of the announcement came after mondays brutal Selloff that saw the uses biotechnology and pharmaceutical Index fall by about five per company officials and corporate finance advisers said the Market was just too weak and the potential to dilute cur rent equity was not Worth the medicare completed the preliminary prospectus in november when its share were trading around the shares closed up to yester Day from its pre Vious close of which was a 52week we had said All along that if the Market was Strong we would Cash but if it was weak we would pull said medicare ceo Albert this is not a critical item for our clinical trials if it had closed the Mil lion share offering that included warrants for an additional million shares it would have raised about the new capital was to allow medicare the Comfort level to Complete the phase i clinical trials of its new heart drug and have ah1 the financing it needed for phase ii Tri als which might begin before the end of the Ezra a biotechnology analyst with Yorkton securities in said the fact medicare pulled its offering should not Hurt the it says much More about the state of the Market than it does about the in fact it is really All about the Lwowski Brent Bottomley a corporate finance Vic president at Wellington West which was managing the sales of the offering along with Groome capital in said there had been about a month of pre Market ing before the final prospectus came and no one could have predicted How badly the markets would this is not a critical item for our clinical trials program medicare ceo Albert Friesen have fared in that the company is doing fantastic and the offering was priced very but in the context of the there was even further erosion in the share Bottomley Friesen said the experience was not entirely unproductive in that there Are More investors and Industry experts who Are More familiar with the company he said institutional investors who had indicated interest in the offering decided to pull Back and avoid any new deals in the midst of such a Bear but we feel we Are Well positioned for when the markets Friesen it will not take us much time or Money to update the prospectus we already have the Securi ties Industry regulators he said the company could probably do a private place ment relatively quickly if that what it decides to medicare is in the midst of the phase i clinical trials of its Lead at a clinic in company offi Cial Dawson Reimer said paperwork to Brief govern ment pharmaceutical Regula tors has already begun for the phase ii which could Cost the company Between million and while it May have enough Money to last the medi cure was looking to build a Comfort level into its financing that might have allowed it to embark on an integrated phase ii and Iii clinical trials at a location that has yet to be Reimer said the offering was pulled even though some investors had already bought but there were too Many investors who made a Deci Sion in the last week to just stay out of the Market or out of the Lwowski said notwithstanding the Market weak the fundamentals in the biotechnology sector Are very in he they Are probably about As Strong As they have Ever but he could not say when the sector would suggesting it was unlikely to occur until the broader equity markets ;