Market View

US futures were higher today after a strong government’s April jobs report released, before market open, today pointing to solid economic growth and moderate inflation pressures. S&P500 touched a new all-time high this week and was down the past two sessions. This week, the US central bank kept policy unchanged despite a recent dovish strategy shift. After strong quarterly updates from bank stocks such as HSBC and Societe general, European market rose. Asian market traded on a reduced week and oil declined on surging US output/inventory. Gold prices remained unchanged. The Canadian dollar was 74.15 cents and gold prices remained unchanged. U.S. S&P500 ended this week flat and TSX ended the week down 0.8%.

Only four of the twelve subgroups ended in the positive territory this week. Understandably, Energy slipped the most by 5.8%, followed by Materials, which was down by 3.0% and Healthcare down 2.6%. Technology jumped the highest by 6.0%, followed by Consumer Staples and Financials, both by 0.5%, respectively. Bombardier announced plans to sell non-core assets, consolidating operations to create a single aviation unit. Management would be selling off its Belfast and Morocco aerostructures businesses. Maple Leaf Foods reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, due to higher costs from new initiatives and capacity expansion. Shell reported a small drop in first-quarter profit to $5.4 billion but still beating forecasts, attributed to stronger trading and LNG earnings. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bombardier, Baytex Energy and Bonavista Energy.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

-Beyond Meats $BYND, the maker of the Beyond Burger is now public

-Hedge Fund industry consolidation

-Lower ETF fees war is not going away anytime soon

-A case for bond index funds

-Some personal finance tips

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