Market View

Saudi Arabia announced that OPEC and its allies are discussing extending oil production cuts at around current levels as it does not want to get into a market share fight with the US as that led to the price collapse five years ago. US officials and Mexico held a second day of talks on trade and migration. Markets remain optimistic that a deal could close soon. Rising oil prices mean Canada’s main stock index futures inched upwards. Gold remains unchanged. The Canadian dollar was 73.88 cents. U.S. S&P500 was up 4.8% this week and TSX ended the week up 1.3%.

All, but one, subgroups ended the week positively. Materials irked up the highest by 4.3%, followed by technology, which was up 2.3%. Real estate jumped by 1.9% and telecommunications by 1.6%. Energy slid down by 2.8%. Canaccord Genuity cut Transcontinental Inc.’s target price to $21 from $27. This is following management’s comment suggesting lower revenue trends in the second half. Real estate developer Group Mach offered to acquire Transat AT from $392.9 million, topping an earlier offer from Air Canada. Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said it was in talks to buy Bombardier’s CRJ aircraft business as it has been developing its own regional jet programme. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Crescent Point Energy, Avalon Advanced Materials and Aurora Cannabis.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

-Active funds are not really better at managing risks

-How investors are playing Trump news

-VanEck launching ETFs with themes never seen before

-Before buying an IPO

-Trump tweets to Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

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