Market View

US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping meet tomorrow in Japan to discuss further on their trade war. Along with the tariffs, Trump administration’s Huawei restriction would be at the top of agenda for both leaders. US stock futures were up on hopes for progress between the countries, possibly reversing some negative momentum seen this week, in an otherwise upbeat month. The Dow and S&P500 are having their best month since January, with the Dow seeing its best June performance since 1938. Russian Energy Minister hopes that a meeting of G20 nations in Japan may offer some clarity for OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers as they consider extending a deal on cutting crude supplies beyond June. The Canadian dollar was 76.36 cents. U.S. S&P500 was down 0.7% this week and TSX ended the week down 1.2%.

It was a bag of mostly reds this week. Healthcare jumped by 1.8%, while consumer staples ended the week flat. Technology slid the most by 3.3%, followed by real estate 2.2% and energy 2.0%. Utilities fell by 1.8%. Bank of Nova Scotia sold its operations in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to Oriental Bank for $560 million in cash. Blackberry, the software maker, posted better-than-expected quarterly revenue, benefiting from its Cylance acquisition, a cyber security firm. Net loss narrowed to $35 million, in the quarter ended May 31, from $60 million a year before. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Yamana Gold, Royal Nickel Corp, and Bombardier Inc.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

-Amazon is now its own biggest shipper

-Small caps are lagging, but that’s not what investors should be worried about

-Mutual funds don’t have an over-performing history

-The Placebo effect in investment

-NBCUniversal is paying $500 million to pull “The Office” from Netflix

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