Edward Jones and Financial Analyst

James Shanahan: A weak economy, falling loonie and — most importantly for Alberta — continued low oil prices have all the ingredients of a perfect storm, according to CBC. Oil drops below $40 US a barrel for 1st time since 2009 Oil shock James Shanahan, a senior financial analyst with Edward Jones, says there a chance third quarter earnings could be far worse than expected. Second quarter earnings were mostly positive, but it not a guarantee this time around. The question analysts and investors want answered is: how much of the oil shock will be felt in the financial sector West Texas Intermediate closed at $40.45 a barrel on Friday. "More than three quarters of the 'Big 6' earnings are tied to domestic operations, beset by the deteriorating domestic outlook," said Barclays analyst John Aiken. "Never mind that bank margins are under pressure from low interest rates and the Bank of Canada two interest rate cuts." No great expectations "There a chance here for the results to be far worse than analysts had been expecting," said James Shanahan, a senior equity analyst for U.S. and Canadian financial services at Edwards Jones. But this time they're facing higher credit costs. Banks did better last quarter because of strength within the banks' underwriting and security trading businesses. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.