In this morning’s news Valeant’s CEO will soon step down and the company has admitted that it has serious problems and has accused a current Board member who was a prior CFO of improper conduct. That Board member has refused a request to step down. This is all very ugly but could be the beginning of the road to some recovery. However, due to its high debt load it is possible that Valeant’s common shares will eventually prove to be worthless.
In other news, Statistics Canada reports that investment in new house construction (single family plus multi family) rose 3.9% year-over-year in January. However, the situation varies greatly by Province. Among the larger provincial economies, Alberta was down 19%, Ontario was up 23%, BC was up 14% and Quebec was about unchanged.