W hen the U.S. Federal Reserve last week raised the discount rate it charges on emergency loans to banks, many observers dismissed the wider implications. Without a more meaningful improvement in the U.S. economy or a surge in inflation, these observers argued, the Fed is unlikely to raise its more influential federal funds rate any time soon. However, the Fed’s move nonetheless gave urgency to the debate over when a fed funds rate hike will arrive and what it will mean for stocks that are sensitive to changing interest rates – especially dividend yielding stocks. R andy Cousins, an analyst at BMO Nesbitt Burns, gives us one of the clearer examples in his recent update on Russel Metals Inc., a North American steel distributor based in Mississauga, Ont. After Russel reported a loss in its fourth quarter results, missing the consensus expectation among analysts, Mr. Cousins noted…

T he U.S. Conference Board’s consumer confidence data scheduled for release Tuesday are expected to show there is still a long way to go before personal spending gets back to anywhere near normal. “Faced with massive debts and high unemployment, consumers continue to feel lousy about their financial situation,” said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist with BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. What are the expectations? The index is expected to indicate a setback in confidence to a reading of 55 in February, compared with 55.9 in January, according to a survey of economists by Bloomberg. Depressed house prices are also not doing anything to help restore consumer confidence. The S&P/Case-Shiller data for December and the fourth quarter of 2009 are also scheduled for release today and are expected to show the housing recovery remains in a fragile state as a result of the bleak jobs picture and…