Market View

A renewed optimism that COVID vaccines will revive fuel demand supported oil prices this week. Earlier this week, AstraZeneca announced another weapon against the COVID-19 by announcing a 90% effective vaccine, which is potentially cheaper, and easier to scale and distribute compared to other peers. The US dollar steadied while gold prices dropped. The Canadian dollar was 77.05. U.S. S&P500 ended the week up 1.6%, while the TSX ended the week up 1.7%.

It was a week of more greens than red. Healthcare and energy rose the highest, by 10% and 8.4%, respectively. Technology gained 3.3%, while consumer discretionary and utilities grew 1.5%, each. Industrials ended the week flat while materials slid 1.2%. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bombardier Inc, Score Media and Gaming Inc, and Aurora Cannabis.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

• Peter Hodson: Five reasons I am getting back in the portfolio management game after nearly a decade off, posted on Financial Post
• SPAC: the once obscure, derided financial product that just might transform deep tech venture capital, written by Peter Hebert of Lux Capital
• A16z is now managing $16.5 billion, after announcing two new funds, authored by Natasha Mascarenhas and Connie Loizos of techcrunch.com
• Bitcoin is near all-time highs and the mainstream doesn’t care… yet, written by Niccolo Conte of Visual Capitalist
• Key trends captured in largest new launches (of ETFs), posted by Heather Bell of ETF.com

Happy Reading & Stay Safe!

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Disclosure: Please note that the author does not hold a financial or other interest stocks or funds mentioned.