Submitted by Michael McDonald of OilPrice
Downturn Now Hitting The Refining Sector
As all energy investors know, it has been a terrible year for oil and natural gas companies. Many stocks are down half or more from their 52-week highs. Yet amidst the carnage, one energy group has held up very well – refiners.
Back in October, Quebec put taxpayers on the hook for a $1 billion bailout of planemaker Bombardier, which was having one hell of a hard time creating a buzz around its CSeries commercial jet program.
Bombardier has been around for nearly 8 decades and employees more than 40,000 people in the province. The company’s role in the provincial economy is “incalculable,” Quebec’s Economy Minister Jacques Daoust said last year. “How can I let them go?” he asked.
It has been a morning session of two halves.
In Asia, the mood was somber, and stocks fell with the Shanghai Composite (+1.1%) outperforming on another late session binge-fest by the National Team, and the Nikkei 225 (-1.4%), Hang Seng -1%, Kospi -0.2%, ASX -0.6%, Sensex -0.4% and the South Korean Won all down following news of the biggest Chinese Yuan devaluation in five weeks.
It was just last month when we profiled Canada’s “other problem”: record high household debt.
Canada is struggling to cope with falling crude prices which have put enormous amounts of pressure on some parts of the country, most notably Alberta, where suicide rates are on the rise, as is property crime and foodbank usage.