Although the TSX improved +5.9% on Friday, November 28th, the last trading day of the month, this improvement was rather suspect. This was due to the fact that the U.S. market had closed at 1:00pm for American Thanksgiving and North American stock trading had become extraordinarily thin and volatile. Nevertheless, this price advance mitigated the earlier November price declines which had seen the TSX down about 20.75%, the Dow Jones 30 Index -19%, the Russell 2000 -28.25% and the NASDAQ -23.5%.

In a nutshell, worldwide stock trading and market performance has been extremely frenzied and inconsistent with little attention focused on fundamental valuations. To the alert investor, we believe there will be many opportunities to adjust portfolios and to upgrade holdings in preparation for the next major upcycle. Moreover, due to the widespread negative investment psychology, contrarian and propitious windows of opportunity will occur. We are watchful for both buying and selling opportunities. We will take action. Having put together a portfolio upgrading plan for these uncertain financial markets, we have been hard at work researching and analyzing undervalued securities as well as new corporate financings. Accordingly, over the past month while we have liquidated weaker holdings, we have added new seasoned companies with greater trading liquidity, better balance sheets and higher dividend yields. Two examples include: Toronto-Dominion Bank, on a recent new equity financing, priced surprisingly close to book value and yielding 6% as well as George Weston Limited, an approximate 60% owner of Loblaws and the operator of Weston Foods (bread, etc).

Irwin A. Michael, CFA