Market View

The two-day G-7 summit, where Trump met with fellow G-7 leaders, resulted in the U.S. refusing the call for reduction in tariffs. President Trump and his administration criticised Prime Minister Trudeau and international trade relations. U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday and indicated two more increases are likely this year and the European Central Bank announced its plans to wind down its 2.55 trillion euro stimulus programme. NASDAQ touched 7,760, due to strong tech sector with upticks in Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet. Canadian dollar settled to 75.8 cents US. The TSX ended the week up 0.4% while the S&P 500 was down 0.3%. 

It has generally been a positive week for all TSX subgroups except for energy, down 3.5%, after news broke that Saudi Arabia and Russia might increase output. Consumer discretionary jumped 3.4%, while technology jumped 3.3% and health care and consumer staples jumped 3.1% and 2.7%, respectively. Aurora Cannabis signed a supply deal with U.K. based cannabis producer and distributor Ascent Industries. Canadian National Railway said it plans to invest around $210 million in Quebec this year to expand its railway network across the province. Enbridge Inc started construction of the offshore border crossing section of its $1.6-billion Valley Crossing natural gas pipeline between Texas and Mexico. Canada Goose Holdings jumped 29.6% was the largest percentage gainer on the TSX as it reported a surprise quarterly profit on Friday. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bombardier, Toronto-Dominion Bank & Manulife Financial.

Five investment stories from 5i Research

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

 - Trump’s tax reforms might be working.  

-Is Bitcoin gone for good?

-Changing fund investor trends over a decade

-A chapter on bonds

-Why any Trump impact should be non-existent