14 the examiner Monday Nov 14 1977 Your business By VINCENT EGAN Business and Consumer Affairs Analyst Thomson News Service its often said that the best time to buy stocks is when everyone else is selling Today people dont seem to be either buying or selling Since the last real flurry of excitement nearly five years ago the stock market has become bore This was driven home to me the other day at my semiannual dental checkup Id al ways found that dentists when poking around in business writers mouth like nothing bet ter than to ask questions about the stock marketso its good practice to bone up on the stock market first This time my boningup proved to be un necessary For the first time in my recollec tion the dentist didnt even mention the market He did go on about the necessity of allowing Canadian dentists and other professionals to incorporate themselves or else they would all move to the United States And he reported that there were no holes in my head Try eavesdropping at your next social gathering and you too will probably find that if the conversation turns to investments at all the subject is gold bullion or registered retirement savings plans or real estateanything except stocks Then think back five 10 or especiallyl13 years ago when any similar gathering would rinï¬with slightly exaggerated stories about dou ling or tripling ones investment over nightBUYING CHEAP The point of all thisto come to it at lastis that the time to look for good equity values and an upturn in the stock market is just such time as this when the market is depressed and no one is interested in it It is also of course the hardest time to buy it goes against our natural instincts to go out and buy stocks when they have fallen and to regard bear market as an opportunity to buy stocks cheap And lets not forget instincts are sometimes right As the Economic Council of Canada has just reported our economy is iii deed in mess The political climate of the 19705 is clearly negative toward business and toward investors Besides most stocks are providing decidedly meagre rate of return at the moment The average yield on the 300 stocks that make up the Toronto Stock Evchange composite index is only five per cent before taxes while the current inflation rate is well Anything except stocks discussed by investors over eight per cent Having said that liiiwever lets look at some of the factors that make stocks worthy of reconsideration now Oll BAD NEWS Most of the bad news that is depressing stock prices is old by now Well seasoned stocks such as Imperial Oil and lexasgulf are cheap by any historical standard liico has been trading far below its breakup value at its lowest level since the 1968 stocksplit ihc chartists ttechnical analysts who ignore economic issues and concentrate on the patterns of stockprice movements are generally forecasting recovery on Wall Street before the end of 1977 because history suggests an early end to the current bear phase That isnt to say that all will necessarily be rosy in the stock market in 1978 titeiiiembcr those unfortunate people who were astute enough to sell before the 1929 market crash but bought back in year later and were wiped out The oldest of all stockmarket cliches is that to make money you must buy low and sell high You cant do the latter if you dont do the former Sharp gains recorded on markets as upward spiral follows wake of longawaited New York rally longawaited rally at New York sent Canadian stock markets into an upward spiral at weeks end with sharp gains record ed in all major sectors Increased interest in heavy oil investment was responsible for much of the surge analysts said But the main impetus came from New York which racked up its seventh heaviest trading on record at Fridays close The recovery was touched off by denial from United States President Carter that his economic policies were in conflict with those of Federal Reserve Board chairman Burns whose conservative views are shared by many US investors in response the Dow Jones index at New Yorkshot up 3595 to 81589 its highest in six weeks TheTSE 300 index on the Toronto market followed with 2697 gain to 100236 its highestpin eight weeks And at Montreal the composite index reached high dating back to Sept30 TORONTO CPt Recent nylncoiiie ll Hum nlnternatnl rmh ulvin Hulliick dicrofnd tll vl 437 gynercsbrgéy l7 ambridge Cdn Sec ith 27 Hill Cdp Trusteed its yl lnmm Corp invest 3i YNnvl Cufp lnv Sik 527 yllVM cth Equiiy Japan in ytiroulth nMoney Mkt to no if Special 1H 203T Inadhn III lpleonm trqu ycompound or tIIommthh to yDividend 6112 Growh Norm ER 377 income Keven on if lnternatnl XtieoIlJIIIIII 335 Leverage Bolton Tremblly dfliIiIiiIiiII nEnuitv 24 CCMCanada Cycle and Motor Co Ltdhad some lean years featuring succession of losses management and production problems layoffs and multimilliondollar fire Now with Ben funds supplied by The Investment Funds Institute of Canada Friday They are the net asset value per share or unit NAVPS last calculated by the fund in ac cordance with its pricing practice as contained in the prospectus of the fund nno sales charge xUS Fund ydelayed NAVPS exexdividend Among the four most heavilyweighitxl groups within the 14unit TSE 300 composite oil and gas issues climbed 5737 to 1301 73 their first venture above the 130tHnark since April of 1974 Industrial products gained 4167 to 87180 metals and minerals 2697 to 1002116 and financial services 1031 to 81969 Transportation stocks led the other nine gainers while gold issues registered the only decline Among the gainers transportation shares rose 73 points merchandismg shares 42 con sumer products 31 management companies 27 utilities 18 communications and media paper and forest products 13 pipelines to anti real estate and construction issues six points GOLDS DROP Gold stocks slipped 153 to 123694 despite rising international bullion prices which closed at $16750 an ounce on the London market Friday up $150 from the previous week At Montreal the industrial index was up Back again 37 to 16397 and the composite llltltX 171 to 1731i Both thi number of snares traded and their value recorded litin increases on the markets total of 31114 million shares traded at Toronto with valiieot 3171 million tip to 13 million shares and it 09 million Shares traded rose 491 ooo at Montreal to 24 million and their alue was up $670 Jilllttll tosztt 39 million Among the heavy oil companies Husky ll Ltd gained to 53 it share Friday following the llllltlllllttllitlll that liiipeital til Ltd is proceeding ith its $3 billion extraction pro you it told lake Alta The company described the propct as the tirst commercial operation to iiw new technology to remove heavy oil toothin torstripiiimmg Another ot the hiuivy oils to record gain was Murphy til ttd up toSttta share Hut lnipii nil Hi out tlass shares were unchanged at thi iiipressed value of Slti shari it the closi Virgilio as executive vicepresident and general manager per sonnel changes and large injection of cash the company ap pears on firmer footing Virgilio is shown at bieyile production line in Toronto plant Photo weekly mutual fund activity Two new ixperiiiieiital cars were introduced by Toyota at Tokyo Motor Show in Japan The ILl ttopt is utility sports coupe with Experimental Toyotas removeahle teak Wood rear deck that doubles as rumble seat The aluminium body experimental vehicle bottom contributes to fuel effi ciency it weighs only 450 kg tP Photo Shippers asking it boom is over for ports of Halifax Saint John The battle between Montreal and East oast ports to attract shipping business did another zigzag in the past week Is the boom for Halifax and Saint John over and will Montreal Quebec City and Toronto regain lost tonnage asked Wolfgang Schmitz president of Atlantic on tamer Lines anadat Ltd tlnc answer came from Ted itohaly chair man of the contaiiierization committee of the anadian industrial Traffic League He told seminar in Toronto that Montreal may be coming back in favor With shippers and ship ping lines because of recently announced in creases in freight rates on container traffic carried by the railways Many containers are transported by rail to ports on the East oast Hohaly said the new rates make the shipping time to Montreal for taincr lmcs now docking at Halifax more at tractive Atlantic tontainers has already announced plans to move some of its operations to Mon treal from lialifax Ships which has con tamer operations at Saint John and Quebec City is also planning to transfer some of its operations to Montreal LABOR AT PEACE Another factor is that Montreal has ap parently settled its problems with labor Jim Hardiman Halifax manager of the Maritime Employees Association said high freight rates are to blame for his ports loss of container traffic to Montreal Not long ago Montreal was the leader in terms of tonnage handled while ports in Halifax and Saint John were patronized only inthe winter But both Halifax and Saint John have since mushroomed leading container ports in other economic developments in the past week Sable island N3 the first well to be drilled under twoparty agreement involv ing letro anada reached almost maximum depth with no shows of oil or gas ln Sussez Peter Jack vice president of the Potash of America said the company expects to make 10to15per cent return on proposed $106 million invest HOpes for 66 iobless rate in final quarter are fading for Carters administration NEW YORK Alt The arter ad ministrations hope of achieving ittrpencent unemployment in the final quarter of the year appears to be fading The 15 unemployment rate has remained at about seven per cent for the last seven months raising doubts about both the fourth quarter goal and the longervterzn aim of an average tiliviwrcent rate for 1978 White House spokesman expressed disap poinlmciit at the October rate which showed unemployment back to seven per cent after dip to 69 per cent in September President Carter who has made the reduc tioii of unemployment top priority was reported to he nearing another commitment TORONTO lt computer breakdown at reports said this week Backers of the full employment bill said arter had agreed to main points in the latest version of the legislation And Thursday arter told news conference he expects to endorse compromise version of the bill within few days Although details of the latest version of the bill were still being negotiated by the more than 30 groups that back it it was reported the legislation would commit the government to an unemployment rate of three per cent for adults plus secondary goal of four per cent to five per cent for all groups including youths who have traditionally high unemployment rate bond yields ItiltthTtt tl Selected bond quo the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday slow tattiins lot Frido 11 ottvttni price ed trading in what was the busiest week since Htlttt 111 Limited early June1969 Iliii Ask ield losing daily and weekly quotations were HM tllltl4lll unavailable hut weekly turnover totalled 243 Melt Au ot anatlult ipttal to million shares The dollar value $171 million it itiisto 11 Ill Ni prices Of investment in in was the greatest since week in midJuly of sit pun it it ill unit lt ltl 11 Hmdmn 10 flit till 119 lift 57 liiittiiilial Iflltllll ii 5308 51 J4 Inf Ht N7 it it titiywth iitiin iy ml My The average weekly turnover for the 77 3H 20 tm onu Il to moohm market in the first half of this year was about llltH ltl sAIiiiIiinIIiiwnIII iI IIltllIlIIllIlIlIII iI linilii rloii I0 IIIIIOII Shares WIIII II IIIuI or abou $100 IlytIII Fl IIIIltt Ii itIt Ti lid ltl pp taiiilitlinyl Dzliltiltlt lliltfll lltv Inlllltlll Mun TV Aug 53 73 Illllt 01 hict II Mar tt Ta Itltlllllll gt trytllI on nliii llll Its IH Ntlil MI Sop tot not riitialuntl HIM him iilititic ill it on Hill 30 ll 01 stiillatiiiid Htv 1m lllltlllt in MM of 11 5t llt Ill it summit 1tg oi Ill oioup ii 111 oo 9100 so mm stir IllllIlllIllIIIIlIiIIlI IiI iiiIi Yum tlllt liIvI tlliI Mail it 37 Guardian Group yttoytiinil to HHW tlltlililn oo lnl ttIy MI sip it oi so 11330 05 Enterprise no yttoylnlt ti IIHl It HR 11 July 12 or at int 112 lttl it 57 HS omp 10 ill lulled tiroiip VIllIIlItiI IlIiItlltIlII il Ito IIImIW III MIIII It vIIlIllt IIIt IvlllIll InnisH II SIaIsk Io MInl 117 tlt fit it 50 it no HS income ill vAicumula iivllltsl It to IMi it th IA to 91 in oz 153 Amnm II Â¥AEIIIIII IiIfl lll iiiiiiiguiiil Stocli Stiles High Low Iose lige Mt 1nrll Hand itliiisioii Mn ti lNlllSlltlAliS It o7 ll5l Nont vttli $157 iv iv Alla oiis ll mutt n4 Mutual in at pitaWer MIIl MtllllllI tiftItII IrzeIIl sn lt 17 Mitomt M3 53 Set lntmnc a4 vSIturltv Indlhtrltll tr ti 70 whim Tut 91 Apr on 102 25 102 21 957 511 World Knotty to yVenIiire Indus Amti it Hm KIWI All Mr VIINJ 15 If ttlaiil Elil NT 15 75 it 37 WV $an II mu HI IVItrilllllIt Il it lllltlsto Apr iimtt l7ItI ltiy to tilt ioiis ias mom at oo 93 oo 21 yorewily gllltht rsiisll llt 011 nliilnatn to MINES Ilofasco ttlwiyy Iltti tilt 14 taxis ylntIIrndIn II L0H Ill Meiling troiip IIgil Mines llllllltl Hit Hi 14 ct ltlltlil Acctplant to lll i10 may vJupan mer imp ff NW 74 illowkiif l2ot2o nztit an ill 9135 11 vMortRiHv 10 finl in IIItIlys ymurmw Manltou ll lHHtttI 12 till 125 tit lneo 11 lulii to 91 341 yit YMU twii liynainiir illititlil its 110 no t2 lnip oil tet to so iotoo to Lil tiinptt mt ll iiiten tl iiooro cor iii zoo in Moistn in ltivl Il on all 14 6y ylrtlvtflt Vii fl twl Wynl tum tltl or oiis siiigiam ltt Juini fin to Re ioiiloyyu Iy roy ldtll htk it TIHHHIH KI If Ill National lltlltlt llll tit 11 tJ7 ioroiito hiliibll tllllt 1pm rprmz 00 it aiine yes it 17 Almiiiix Hilario slot loi to1 Ium HM III ivHptllul Neinio IIx Hmtoo 14 2iii Llti ii Ulllllll ls ll nSVIlI in 10 50109 50 lit2 MW 50 yimil xlix IIilllllllllltl 37 Ir can Iiis lllltifill 227 9t 22 or visiioiisi lruns Ex Wis Apr 1593 4t yrraurus 2o yfpnd Ml inalihliyltlp ti ywvxnn pr ymk 35 31 Ht iltl 50 9150 955 lret ct lt0ll will Ill to ment in potash mine near here In Montreal Maurice Brisebois of the French language office said large companies have three weeks to set up francization com piittees to comply with Quebecs language aw in Ottawa the St Lawrence Seaway Authority reported an operating loss of $65 million in the year ending March 31 despite efforts to control expenses In Winnipeg officers of CSP Foods Ltd an oilseed crushing enterprise warned the survival of the industry is being threatened because of increased competition and over building of facilities In Fort QuAppelle Sask Doug Mc Curry director of the Consumers Federation of America said further expansion by Cargill Grain To Ltd on the Prairies would seriously undermine Canadian rural life In Edmonton Walter Stewart new presi dent of the Housing and Urban Development Association of Canada said an oversupply of houses will be sold by spring and prices should go up In Richmond BC George Spetifore potato grower announced he will close his $8 million potato plant because the provincial government has refused to give him financial assistance Nickel role seen declining OTTAWA tCPt Canadas role as the worlds largest nickel supplier will coitinue to decline during the next six years until it ac counts for only 30 per cent of production out side the Soviet bloc US mining company executive has said LG Bonar of Amax lnc which is refining about 50 million pounds of nickel this year told Toronto meeting of the Canadian Coun cil of Financial Analysis recently that in creasing shares of the worlds nickel supply will be mined from deposits in tropical coun tries Bonars comments were made prior to the Oct 20 announcement by Inco Ltd that it would lay off 3450 employees in Sudbury Ont and Thompson Man Bonar noted that in 1950 Canada produced 91 per cent ofvthe worlds nickel and that by 1977 that proportion had fallen to 44 per cent