12 Money WWW.PGCITIZEN.CA | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2017 INSURANCE Protect what’s important to you! / Tax Deferred / Permanent / Key Person Coverage / Buy/Sell Coverage / Disability / Mortgage / Term / Critical Illness / Long Term Care Gordon Hayward CHS, EPC, CEA H/M Assoc. Financial Planning Centre (2005) Inc. "Your Financial Planning Centre' Catherine Stovel CHS.EPC, CEA PROVIDING INDEPENDENT, INTELLIGENT INVESTMENT ADVICE SINCE '82 Andrea Stovel _________MA_______ wealth LINK FINANCIAL SERVICES — 250.563.8243— 114 -1717 3rd Ave. Prince George financial planningcentreinc.ca R0011353431 MONEY IN BRIEF Currencies These are indicative wholesale rates for foreign currency provided by the Bank of Canada on Thursday. Quotations in Canadian funds. Australia dollar 0.9756 Brazil real 0.3934 China renminbi 0.1893 Euro 1.4770 Hong Kong dollar 0.159725 India rupee 0.01917 Indonesia rupiah 0.0000920 Japan yen 0.01111 Malaysia ringgit 0.2954 Mexico peso 0.06647 N.Z. dollar 0.8886 Norway krone 0.1579 Peruvian new sol 0.3831 Russia rouble 0.02160 Saudi riyal 0.3326 Singapore dollar 0.9218 South Africa rand 0.09258 South Korean won 0.001102 Sweden krona 0.1538 Switzerland franc 1.2788 Taiwanese dollar 0.04133 Thailand baht 0.03766 Turkey lira 0.3415 U.K. pound 1.6471 U.S. dollar 1.2472 Vietnam dong 0.000055 Financial highlights Highlights at the close Thursday at world financial market trading. Stocks: S&P/TSX Composite Index -15,742.20, down 58.20 points Dow - 22,841.01, down 31.88 points S&P 500- 2,550.93, down 4.31 points Nasdaq - 6,591.51, down 12.04 points Currencies: Cdn - 80.18 cents US, up 0.17 of a cent Pound - C$1.6471, down 0.35 of a cent Euro - C$1.4770, down 0.36 of a cent Euro - US$1.1843, down 0.04 of a cent Oil futures: US$50.60, down 70 cents (November contract) Gold futures: US$1,296.50 per oz., up $7.60 (December contract) Canadian Fine Silver Handy and Harman: $22.376 oz., up 5.9 cents $719.39 kg., up $1.90 The markets today TORONTO (CP) — Weakness in oil and gas shares weighed on Canada's largest stock index Thursday as the loonie made a minor advance on the U.S. dollar. The Toronto Stock Exchanges's S&P/TSX composite index retreated 58.20 points to 15,742.20, with the energy sector leading decliners with losses of 1.65 per cent. The November crude contract was down 70 cents to US$50.60 per barrel. "Any time oil crosses over the US$50 mark, you know that there are producers out there that are hedging," said Jillian Bryan, vicepresident at TD Wealth Private Investment Advice. "That has the effect of putting a lid on energy prices so they don't run even further. And we've obviously had huge production gains south of the border with their production at all time highs in the U.S. So the world is awash in energy." The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported last week that U.S. crude exports jumped to 1.98 million barrels per day, marking the fourth weekly increase. South of the border, stocks were little changed Thursday as weakening bank shares saw Wall Street slip into negative territory. The Dow Jones industrial average gave back 31.88 points to 22,841.01. The S&P 500 index inched down 4.31 points to 2,550.93 and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 12.04 points to 6,591.51. Elsewhere in commodities, the December gold contract advanced $7.60 to US$1,296.50 an ounce. U.S. drops NAFTA bombshells Alexander PANETTA The Canadian Press PENTAGON, United States — The NAFTA talks have now entered their most difficult phase with the United States beginning to drop its bombshell proposals on the negotiating table at a just-begun fourth round outside Washington. U.S. officials had foreshadowed that this week-long round would see the most contentious discussions open and that is coming to fruition, with the American side levelling one demand deemed a non-starter - and preparing to deliver another one. The just-released demand would create a so-called termination clause. It would end NAFTA after five years, unless its member countries explicitly opted to renew it. That proposal was delivered late Wednesday night. That comes after the U.S. proposed far stricter Buy American rules at the last negotiating round, and in the leadup to one of the most important proposals of the entire negotiation: on rules for auto parts, which could come as early as Friday. “More contentious issues will be coming up very shortly,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said during a panel discussion this week at the Dentons law firm. “So far the talks have mainly done basic background things. Kind of what I would call boilerplate things. Relatively easy issues.” The other NAFTA countries say they’re legitimately baffled by where the U.S. is headed. Sources say others are trying to figure out what this hardline approach signals from the U.S. - opening positions that will be flexible with some bargaining; hard demands; or a desire to poison the talks, let them collapse, and simply do away with NAFTA. Some allies of U.S. President Donald Trump are more positive. Newt Gingrich said this week he sees little appetite within the U.S. cabinet for the type of turmoil cancelling NAFTA might cause. He said Trump’s team is filled with wealthy pro-traders, who simply believe the U.S. needs tougher deals. Ross himself said he doesn’t anticipate a NAFTA collapse, though he added a caveat: “We don’t hope it will (end), we don’t desire that it will, we don’t believe that it will, but it is at least a conceptual possibility.” Canada and Mexico are vehemently opposed to the five-year termination idea, seeing it as a destabilizing investment-killer and an unacceptable red line. Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. has joked that if the same idea were used in marriage licenses, the divorce rate would skyrocket. But Ross confirmed it as the U.S. position, and shrugged off the talk of red lines. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Washington on Thursday. Ross delivered some of the U.S.'s proposals during NAFTA negotiations. “Yes, that’s our proposal,” Ross said, adding dismissively: “Red lines, blue lines, green lines, purple lines - those are just colours in a rainbow... It’s a big, complicated negotiation and the key is having an overall package that works (at the end).” The next big scare could come Friday the 13 th. That’s when the group handling rules for auto parts meets for the first time in this round, and it’s expected the U.S. is preparing to level demands viewed as non-starters by Canada, Mexico, and the auto industry. One report said the planned demand would require 85 per cent of a car’s parts to come from North America, and half of them to come from the U.S. The industry says many of these components simply aren’t made on the continent, and warns that if the rules get too onerous it might just stop working within NAFTA and start paying tariffs. The demands being levelled cross several of the six so-called red lines laid out by Mexico’s Senate, which says it would refuse any deal that includes a termination clause, a U.S. auto content requirement, or the end of the Chapter 19 dispute-resolution system. One official says it’s important to keep negotiating calmly. “We’re expecting some contentious proposals this week,” said the official, a non-American who was not authorized to speak publicly. “Having said that, no one should lose sight of the fact you have three teams of negotiators working to make progress on the deal and they are making progress. “If there weren’t contentious proposals, it wouldn’t be a negotiation.” American industry has begun sounding alarm bells about the potential damage if NAFTA dies. The U.S. Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association released a study Thursday saying it could cost 25,000 to 50,000 U.S. jobs, and warned that too-strin-gent content rules could cost 24,000 jobs. A team of Scotiabank economists agrees the auto sector is faring well under NAFTA. It points to data showing a surge in U.S. auto employment since the 2008-09 recession, with six per cent annual employment increases that are multiple times larger than growth in other manufacturing sectors. They say Ross relies on skewed numbers to paint an overly grim portrait, which underestimates the degree of U.S. content in North American cars. But Ross shrugs off the industry’s complaints: “I think you’ll find the car companies will adapt themselves to it.” Compassion makes businesses money ichael was my mentor when it comes to compassion. Michael’s heart always went out to helping anyone who was in a tough spot. As a roommate of Michael’s, I observed how he would reach out to those in the community who were down on their luck and in pain. He would help to mend hearts even after his had been severely broken as a young man. When I worked beside him and our friend Walter on the sandwich lines to serve the poor he would tell me,“Dave don’t just serve sandwiches, go out and sit with the people, they need friendship. They need to be seen as people, much more than they need the food.” I remembered Michael’s wisdom as I ran my businesses. My customers would often come in looking for a product but more often, they were searching for friendship and meaning. Luckily for me, I hired great people who were always better than I was at being able to mend hearts while finding products to help heal bodies. This enabled our businesses to grow and thrive and give meaning to our employees. But is there room for having compassion in business? Some people might even say that when I talk about Profiting Yourself Healthy, that I am focused on only the bottom line. It’s true that I do often speak about profits because many business owners are struggling to build profitable businesses. Without making money in the business (profits) we are unable to hire people, save for retirement, donate to the community and share with others. But the fact is that compas- DAVE FULLER sionate businesses are actually more profitable than those that are simply obsessed with the bottom line. In the book Compassionate Capitalism written by Blaine Bartlett and David Metzer, the argument is made that businesses must have a purpose greater than just making money. Business leaders who are not just focused on making profits, but are very concerned with adding value for their customers and who have a vision of making the world a better place are generally more successful than their counterparts. In fact, in his book Firms of Endearment Raj Sisodia found that companies that are organized around values such as love, generosity and endearment, had significantly greater financial stock market returns than ordinary companies. From 1998 to 2013 when the S&P 500 index increased by 118 per cent and the Good to Great companies identified by Jim Collins increased in value by 283 per cent , Firms of Endearment who placed more worth in making a difference in the world increased in value by 1,681 per cent. So, if compassion is good for business, how do we create a company that tries to make the world a better place? The truth of the matter is that it starts with you. Whether you are the owner of a business or just an employee, mak- ing a difference starts with simple acts. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said it well when she said “Not all of us can do great things but we can all do small things with great love.” Creating a culture in our organizations where “we care” doesn’t happen over night. It happens when we start doing small things that show we want to make the world a better place “one person at a time.” In order to have a fantastic business that is compassionate, we need to start by identifying our core values. Once we are grounded in these values and have communicated what our business stands for, we need to ensure that everything we do, is rooted in these values. This means that every person we hire, every supplier we deal with, and each customer we reach out to has similar values. Impossible you say? Well, think of it this way, when we try to do business, or have employees or suppliers that have values that are not aligned with ours, life becomes difficult. If, for example, some of our core values are compassion and honesty but our supplier or even our customers don’t believe in this, how hard it is going to be for us and our team to work with them. Developing a business that is compassionate might be good for the bottom line, but Michael never cared much about money, he cared about people. When you start caring about people, your business will take care of itself. Dave Fuller, MBA, is a certified professional business coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Email him at dave@prof-ityourselfhealthy.com to find out how you can identify your core values easily. "Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising." — MarkTwain Call 250-562-2441 to go large AP PHOTO