“As history has repeatedly proven, one trade tariff begets another, then another – until you’ve got a full-blown trade war. No one ever wins, and consumers always get screwed” – Mark McKinnon

Bank of Canada Holds Key Rate Steady

Citing “growing trade uncertainty”, the Bank of Canada announced they would hold rates steady on Wednesday. President Trump had threatened to impose trade tariffs on key trade partners, including Canada. However, he later eased off these threats.

The S&P/TSX Composite moved upward as the week went on, rising with oil & precious metals gains, as well as President Trump’s softening stance on trade tariffs.

The TSX finished up on the day, and up 1.25 per cent for the week; however, Canada’s main index is still down nearly four per cent on the year.

This is a recording: it is not paying off to be overweight Canadian equities in your portfolio and it hasn’t paid off in some time. If you’re unsure about your current asset allocation and need to know if any action needs to be taken, contact us!

Happy Ninth Birthday, Bull Market

The three major U.S. stock indexes, the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ, all gained more than one per cent on Friday to celebrate the ninth birthday of the post-Housing Crisis bull market.

NASDAQ hit another record high on Friday, as the February jobs data outweighed inflation and rate hike fears.

As with the TSX, President Trump’s easing of tariff threats helped the markets to rise.

Weekly Market Wrap-Up

North America

• The TSX closed at 15,578, up 193 points or 1.25% over the past week. YTD the TSX is down -3.89%.
• The DOW closed at 25,336, up 798 points or 3.25% over the past week. YTD the DOW is up 2.50%.
• The S&P closed at 2,787, up 96 points or 3.57% over the past week. YTD the S&P is up 4.23%.
• The Nasdaq closed at 7,561, up 303 points or 4.17% over the past week. YTD the Nasdaq is up 9.53%.
• Gold closed at 1,324, changed -7.00 points or 0.00% over the past week. YTD gold is up 1.07%.
• Oil closed at 62.12, up 0.67 points or 1.09% over the past week. YTD oil is up 2.81%.
• The USD/CAD closed at 0.7805, up 0.0040 points or 0.52% over the past week. YTD the USD/CAD is down -1.86%.

Europe/Asia

• The MSCI closed at 2,125, up 35 points or 1.67% over the past week. YTD the MSCI is up 1.05%.
• The Euro Stoxx 50 closed at 3,421, up 96 points or 2.89% over the past week. YTD the Euro Stoxx 50 is down -2.37%.
• The FTSE closed at 7,225, up 155 points or 2.19% over the past week. YTD the FTSE is down -6.02%.
• The CAC closed at 5,274, up 137 points or 2.67% over the past week. YTD the CAC is down -0.73%.
• DAX closed at 12,347, up 433.00 points or 3.63% over the past week. YTD DAX is down -4.42%.
• Nikkei closed at 21,469, up 287.00 points or 1.35% over the past week. YTD Nikkei is down -5.69%.
• The Shanghai closed at 3,307, up 52.0000 points or 1.60% over the past week. YTD the Shanghai is changed 0.00%.

Fixed Income

• The 10-Yr Bond Yield closed at 2.89, up 0.0300 points or 1.05% over the past week. YTD the 10-Yr Bond is up 20.42%.

Sources: Globe Advisor, Dynamic Funds