Topic: Some of the spreads are still pretty big...

[sailor723]

We're starting to think about what to replace the Maxima with next year. One of the possibilities is an Infiniti G35x with a premium package and wood. Looks like about a $6500-$7000 premium to buy in Canada after accounting for the $4500 cash discount.

Given that the warrany is honoured here on US cars and that the closest US dealer is only about an hours drive more than the closest Canadian dealer it looks like it could be another US purchase next year. (assuming all the factors stay about the same)

It's interesting to note that most of the Canadian divisions of the premium brands seem to have settled on 15-20% as the premium that Canadian buyers will accept on cash purchases without too many going to the states. (down from 30+%)

They seem to have reached the conclusion that most people in this market segment will pay 5/6/7 thousand to avoid the hassle of US shopping but not 10 or 15k

[safristi]

.... maybe they are just TESTING THE WATERS.....so hang in there thru 2008
...the US is in a recession...so things could get VERY INTERESTING.........

[Ottawa]

.... maybe they are just TESTING THE WATERS.....so hang in there thru 2008
...the US is in a recession...so things could get VERY INTERESTING.........

Unless the loonie takes a dive to the 80 c mark....The past 2 days have been very alarming in terms of how quickly our currency took a nose dive. Our fundamentals are still relatively decent but we get no credit by the investment community for a sound economic system and no deficits. I would hate to see where our currency would end up if our economic indicators start turning red!

[JSCC]

Fundementals and hard-core economic evidence is not as powerful as PRECEPTION which leads to reality! 

Commodities might have ran out of steam and down goes oil, gold and $CAD.

[The Mighty Duck]

No surprise that the dollar has tumbled, with gold falling as sharply as it has.  But disappointing nonetheless.  Good point, Ottawa, about lack of recognition for Canada's relatively stable economic situation - I was looking at Canadian vs. US prime rates the other day, and except for a few brief periods, Canada has been higher than the US by about the same margin for 20 years...  higher interest rate required to entice investment (among other things, of course) I guess.

[mmret]

No surprise that the dollar has tumbled, with gold falling as sharply as it has.  But disappointing nonetheless.  Good point, Ottawa, about lack of recognition for Canada's relatively stable economic situation - I was looking at Canadian vs. US prime rates the other day, and except for a few brief periods, Canada has been higher than the US by about the same margin for 20 years...  higher interest rate required to entice investment (among other things, of course) I guess.

I think the BoC is a little more anti-inflation in their mentality compared to the Fed, which has often taken a beating from the White House over interest rates / economic growth whenever politically expedient.

At least, Greenspan seemed to loathe it.

[Ottawa]

No surprise that the dollar has tumbled, with gold falling as sharply as it has.  But disappointing nonetheless.  Good point, Ottawa, about lack of recognition for Canada's relatively stable economic situation - I was looking at Canadian vs. US prime rates the other day, and except for a few brief periods, Canada has been higher than the US by about the same margin for 20 years...  higher interest rate required to entice investment (among other things, of course) I guess.

The biggest concern is that market manipulation is the rule of the game right now and somehow the stats are telling us that inflation is not an issue. When I read that wheat just passed $1,000 a metric ton (used to be $250 just a couple of years ago) and that gasoline is going to 1.40 l this summer, I wonder what our central bank governor is doing to keep a lid on fighting inflation instead of worrying about economic prosperity. The role of a central bank is to insure that proper fundamentals are in place and first and foremost not allow money supply to go out of control!
The hundreds of billon of dollars that are currently being sunk to rescue the large Wallstreet firms are just a lease extension to some of these institutions  while some of the rich guys manage to get there money out while the rest of us keep holding the bag.

[davidm]

No surprise that the dollar has tumbled, with gold falling as sharply as it has.  But disappointing nonetheless.  Good point, Ottawa, about lack of recognition for Canada's relatively stable economic situation - I was looking at Canadian vs. US prime rates the other day, and except for a few brief periods, Canada has been higher than the US by about the same margin for 20 years...  higher interest rate required to entice investment (among other things, of course) I guess.

The biggest concern is that market manipulation is the rule of the game right now and somehow the stats are telling us that inflation is not an issue. When I read that wheat just passed $1,000 a metric ton (used to be $250 just a couple of years ago) and that gasoline is going to 1.40 l this summer, I wonder what our central bank governor is doing to keep a lid on fighting inflation instead of worrying about economic prosperity. The role of a central bank is to insure that proper fundamentals are in place and first and foremost not allow money supply to go out of control!
The hundreds of billon of dollars that are currently being sunk to rescue the large Wallstreet firms are just a lease extension to some of these institutions  while some of the rich guys manage to get there money out while the rest of us keep holding the bag.

BoC has an issue, those commodity prices you quote will be unaffected by canadian prime, they are being driven by global demand for commodities.  Raising prime will only put a damper on canadian businesses and consumers, it won't budge international commodity prices.

[The Mighty Duck]

  That's why the Bank of Canada publishes the inflation rate, and the core inflation rate, which excludes energy.  With the way wheat and other agricultural products have been going, even the core inflation rate is likely overstated relative to inflation in other sectors.

The thing that really gets to me about high agricultural prices is that the world has or could find enough supply, but the right investments are not being made, and Western governments continue to subsidize certain products, which throws a kink into the global market...