Market View

Canada’s labour market started the year with the largest jobs gain in four months, the unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent, adding 37,000, but wage growth cooled, suggesting the central bank is not facing pressure to cut rates. On the other hand, a minor adjustment was made to the consumer-price index (CPI) for December 2023, revising down by a tenth, to 0.2%, confirming the Fed is done raising rates. The Canadian dollar was 74.27 cents USD. The U.S. S&P500 ended the week up 1.3%, while the TSX was slightly down 0.3%.

Another week of greens and reds mixed. Energy added 1.5%, while technology and industrial staples added in the 1.3% range each and real estate gained 0.9%. Materials and consumer staples gave up 2.7% and 1.1%, respectively. Consumer discretionary edged down 0.7% while financials ended the week slightly down 0.2%. The most heavily traded shares by volume were TELUS Corporation, Enbridge and Bitfarms.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

• 17 Thoughts About Money, written and published by Ben Carlson of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC

• What’s Unique About Private Equity?, by Larry Swedroe of Morningstar

• Why Are Companies Sitting on Cash Right Now?, written by Vijay Govindarajan, Anup Srivastava, and Chandrani Chatterjee of Havard Business Review

• 25 Investing Mistakes I Made That You Can Easily Avoid, published by Darius Foroux

• Social Security Is Taxable? Don’t Be Caught Off Guard, authored by Mark Miller of Morningstar

Happy Reading & Stay Safe!

Disclosure: The analyst(s) responsible for this report do not have a financial or other interest in securities mentioned.