Canadian Personal Finance Blog

lululemon athletics much anticipated IPO arrived this week, and yesterday it’s initial stock price of $18.00 (on the NASDAQ) soared to $28.00 in it’s first day of trading. This seems to echo the positive sentiment heard about the firm, and has allowed them to pay back initial investors and get some new capital into the firm.

Of the 18,200,000 shares being offered, 2,290,909 are being offered by lululemon athletica inc. and 15,909,091 are being offered by selling stockholders.

There is really only 2 million “new” shares, but now the company is being traded publicly, which may be a good thing.

What is confusing to me is that the stock seems to be trading on the NASDAQ exchange, yet it is not being traded on the TSE yet (or is it), very confusing, so I’ll have to research a little more, but call your broker if you want in (or is it too late ?).

What is new this week? Many interesting things to watch have happened so let’s run through a few of them:

1. We bought a desktop shredder last week (I promise a video of me shredding an important document soon). It is not a simple “straight line” shredder, it cross cuts as well, which makes me feel a little less paranoid about things. We shredded a great deal of stuff on the first couple of days, but the volume has dropped since then. Our friend over at Canadian Capitalist did a good article on Fraud Prevention , that is worth having a look at as well.
2. I continue on my hunt for a good second hand car to replace my deteriorating ‘94 Honda Accord, and think the best way to find a good used car, is like everything else, via word of mouth. I talk to different people, and hear about friends who might be selling cars, and I talked to my mechanic about where best to get a car as well. Don’t just walk into a dealership, you’ll get what they want you to buy, not what you want.
3. The Canadian Dollar continues to approach it’s Yankee Cousin at parity, which continues to scare a humble drone like me. Yes, it means I can go to Ogdensburg and buy cheap basketball shoes, but, if my job goes to China, where do I get the money to go shopping?
4. Canadian Banks are getting some fall out from the U.S. below prime mortgage fiasco, which is driving Financial Institution stock prices down.
5. The Simpsons movie starts today, and I am going to try to go see it soon!

Have a good weekend, and enjoy the good weather.

And I am not cleaning that mess up! This has caused the Canadian Dollar to continue it’s upward reach compared to it’s Yankee Cousin.

Total retail sales rose 2.8% to an estimated $35.0 billion in May. Gains in seven of eight retail sectors boosted sales, making May the fourth monthly increase in a row for Canadian retailers. The last time sales increased more than 2.8% was December 1997, when sales advanced 3.7%. When sales of new, used and recreational vehicles and parts dealers are excluded, retail sales jumped 2.3%, more than offsetting April’s 0.3% decline.

Wonder if this is another bubble forming? Hope not

Some of the odd areas where sales have gone up? Auto sales (from April to May) are up 4.0%, and this is at the height of the gas prices? Clothing sales are up over 4 percent as well (but I could have guessed that with my daughters spending).

With a Canadian Dollar rising to parity with it’s American Cousin, what does this mean? Nothing (YET), but stay tuned this could get very interesting, that is for sure.

Stats Canada is saying that 1.3% less people are collecting Employment Insurance benefits as compared to May 2006 (from May 2007), and the biggest drops were in Quebec and Ontario, so that is a good thing (living in Ontario).More interestingly is that the amount of money being paid out by the scheme dropped a great deal, so the government is saving money in this area as well. So far in my working career I have not claimed EI benefits (I state that not as a boast, more as the fact that I am just lucky).

The Citizen had an article about how Ottawa in specific suffered a great deal of exodus during the High Tech Melt down with many people moving away from the Nation’s Capital? Can’t find the article on line, but will be researching that further. It is interesting to me because Ottawa keeps growing in size every year, so where are all these people working? Hope not the Government.

The Canadian Dollar continues it’s upsurge and may be at par with the Yankee Buck before the end of the year, which scares the living poop out of me, since that may send my real job overseas (I think I am saying I am too expensive, wow).