With Americans on Holiday staying home, Canadian markets post slight gain

The Memorial Day Weekend had many Americans staying home or staying local due to high gas prices. While Markets in the US were closed Monday, there was plenty to do this long weekend, with the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs starting and the NBA Conference Finals in full swing.

It has been reported (Link) that Americans are driving at historic lows, and who can anyone really blame them with $130 Oil and gas prices over $4/gallon. Perhaps some of those long weekend trips were cancelled and instead nights were spent enjoying the latest antics of Indiana Jones. The Paramount film, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (VIA), enjoyed a, not record-breaking but still, highly successful opening for the film, with a 5 day domestic gross of $150Million and a worldwide take approaching $300Million.

Canadian markets were up slightly on Monday, with the benchmark TSX index gaining 35 points, or a quarter of 1 percent.