Market View

S&P500 posted its best quarterly performance of 12.3% gain in a decade. Stocks across the globe finished the first quarter on a positive note. The US Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates until at least the end of next year, concluded a Reuters poll. Bond yields are inching higher after an extended period of worries of global economic slowdown. Britain’s Parliament rejected the Brexit deal for a third time, thereby increasing chances of a long delay to its EU withdrawal. The Canadian dollar was 74.55 cents. U.S. S&P500 was up 0.9% this week and TSX ended the week up 0.22%.

All but three subgroups ended the week positive. Consumer staples jumped the highest by 2.5%, followed by healthcare 2.45%, industrials by 1.8%, and consumer discretionary 1.3%. Healthcare slipped by 2.5% and energy by 2.2%. BlackBerry reported a fourth-quarter profit compared with a loss, a year prior. This was due to a 71% rise in its licensing and IP revenue as more patents were filed for its technologies. Dollarama reported a 6% rise in quarterly profit and announced a 10% dividend increase. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bombardier, Blackberry and Aurora.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

-Yield Curve inversion and what it means

-High Yield performance over time

-What diversification is not

-Thinking about retirement? How to begin

-Roadmap for financial success

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