There was a strong reaction last week to the elevated debt crisis in Europe, with commodities and equities being indiscriminately sold. Gold fell 3 percent this week, losing its safe haven status as the dollar grew stronger and the 10-year government note headed lower.
A quick sell down of the US Government's stockpiles of helium in the 90s crowded out the private sector and left the US with dangerously low levels of a key industrial material.
Last week's media headlines focused on how the election results in France and Greece reflected a wave of rising public resistance across Europe to the austerity programs being championed by Germany, the IMF, and the EU.
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark pushed back after the NDP's new federal leader, Thomas Mulcair, said that the resource ramp up in Western Canada is coming at the expense of manufacturing jobs out east.