Market View

The US economy reported fourth-quarter US gross domestic product data, which showed a 6.9% annual growth rate beating market expectations. This brought the US economy’s full-year 2021 expansion to 5.7%, its fastest since 1984. Despite this, major North American indices are on track to end the week in red. Both the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada left the interest rates unchanged and signaled a hike in the next few months. The US dollar and oil prices strengthened, while gold prices ended the week in red. The Canadian dollar was 78.46 cents USD. U.S. S&P500 ended the week down 0.7%, while the TSX ended the week up 0.4%.

Large swings were seen this week with healthcare dropping nearly 5.3%. Technology slid 2.7%, while Materials gave up 2.0%. Energy gained 4.4% this week, while consumer staples edged up 3.0%. Consumer discretionary added 1.4%, while telecommunications and financials gained 1.1%, each. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Royal Bank of Canada, Athabasca Oil Corp, and Suncor Energy.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

• Are you investing or merely speculating? By Charlie Bilello of Compound Advisors
• Peloton’s big whoops, authored by Emily Stewart of Vox
• How Exxon is using an unusual law to intimidate critics over its climate denial, written by Chris McGreal of the Guardian
• A DeFi crash course for normies: Crypto markets since 2017, by Ming Zhao of Noahpinion
• Underestimation the red queen, by Michael Mauboussin and Dan Callahan of Morgan Stanley

Happy Reading & Stay Safe!

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