Market View

Signs of progress in US-China trade talks came as a relief to investors worldwide. Gold prices rose and the US dollar struggled. Investors await European Central Bank’s next move to see if it is done stimulating the economy. The Canadian dollar was 75.54 cents. U.S. S&P500 was up 0.7% this week and TSX was up 1.0%.

The biggest winners this week were Energy, which was up 5.0%, Financials up 2.8% and Telecommunications up 1.0%. Technology slipped 2.2%, Consumer Staples and Technology was down 1.6%, respectively. Aurora Cannabis Inc announced that it has pushed its profitability timeline to fiscal 2020 after missing its earlier target for the fourth quarter. Hudson’s Bay reported a bigger-than-expected second-quarter loss of $462 million from $104 million a year earlier. This was due to several shuttered stores and heavy discounting. Catalyst Capital Group now holds roughly 16% of HBC shares after investors participated it its tender offer. Northland Power Inc would buy most of Colombia utility Empresa de Energia de Boyaca in a deal valued at $1.05 billion, including debt. This is NPI’s second investment in Latin America. Shopify said it would buy warehouse technology provider 6 River Systems for $450 million, to accelerate the growth of its fulfillment network. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Baytex Energy, Encana Corp, and Aurora Cannabis.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

-IPOs and positive cashflow

-Different meanings of market performance

-Indexed annuities

-How to put together a comprehensive estate plan

-Sector momentum and its effectiveness

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