Market View

All three indexes, Dow, S&P500, and Nasdaq, remained sharply higher for the month despite three straight sessions of losses this week. China’s GDP grew at 6.2% in the second quarter, the weakest pace in almost three decades. Stocks jumped as interest rate-cut hopes rose. Spot gold prices were weak this week, but losses were curbed after sharper dovish comments from two top Federal Reserve officials about US interest rate cuts later this month. The US dollar rose slightly higher this week and oil prices rose after the US Navy downed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz. The Canadian dollar was 76.50 cents. U.S. S&P500 was down 0.7% this week and TSX ended the week flat.

It was a mixed bag this week of the month as well. Materials jumped the highest by 5.3%, followed by technology and healthcare that spiked up 2.2% and 2.0%, respectively. Energy slid the most by 4.9%, followed by consumer staples, which slipped 1.3%. Aurora Cannabis secured a two-year contract to supply medical cannabis to the Italian government. The Canadian pot producer will supply a minimum of 400 kg of medical cannabis to the country, which is one of the most strictly regulated medical cannabis markets in the world. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Jaguar Mining, B2Gold Corp and Kinross Gold Corp.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

-Conventional wisdom doesn’t always stand

-Most interesting ETF launches this year

-Fidelity against Vanguard on their low fee war

-The upside to filing for bankruptcy

-Your portfolio is less diversified than you think

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