Market View

US President Donald Trump announced that trade talks with China are “moving right along”. Futures of Canada’s main index rose. Oil prices slipped as investors await news of the upcoming OPEC meeting. Canada’s job market unexpectedly weakened for a second-straight month as it shed 71k jobs in November. The median economist forecast was of a gain of 10,000 jobs. The unemployment rate increased to 5.9% in November, compared to 5.5% in October. The Canadian dollar was 75.43 cents. U.S. S&P500 ended the week flat and TSX was down 0.3%.

Financials slipped the most this week following a string of poor earnings and a few good ones. Financials fell 2.5%, followed by consumer discretionary, which slid 2.4%, and consumer staples -0.8%. Utilities gained 0.8%. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce saw its net income fell to $1.3 billion, from $1.36 billion a year ago. TD Bank Group reported a 3.5% fall in the fourth-quarter profit. National Bank of Canada’s net income rose 5% to $270 million, beating market estimates. Royal Bank of Canada missed profit estimates this quarter. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Encana, Canadian Natural Resources and Suncor Energy.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

-The glitter of financial intoxicants

-Simplifying your portfolio

-Quality factor in 2019

-Risk tolerance and cash

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Disclosure: The author does not hold positions in any stocks or funds mentioned.