Market View

For the first time in a year, Bank of Canada (BoC) chose not to raise interest rates holding the policy rate at 4.5%. Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell’s comments unleashed some market volatility. The comments paved the way for higher and possibly faster rate hikes. Failure of Silicon Valley Bank sent jitters about banks putting pressure on North American indices this week. The Canadian dollar was 72.58 cents USD. The U.S. S&P500 ended the week down 4.8%, while the TSX was down 3.9%.

All sectors were down significantly this week. Healthcare, financials and real estate dropped by 7.3%, 5.3%, and 4.3%, respectively. Energy and consumer discretionary gave up 4.0%, each. Industrials slide by 2.4%, while technology ended the week down 2.1%. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, and Manulife Financial.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

• Is it easier for investors to forecast the long-term or short-term? By Joe Wiggins of Behavioural Investment
• Risk vs uncertainty and the illusion of control, posted by Michael Harris of Price Action Lab Blog
• Four ways in which Lego built its empire, authored by Karina Tsui of Semafor
• Cash is not trash, by Douglas Boneparth of this is the top
• Most stock pickers underperformed in 2022’s ‘stock picker’s market’, published on TKer by Sam Ro

Happy Reading & Stay Safe!

Disclosure: The analyst(s) responsible for this report do not have a financial or other interest in securities mentioned.