Market View

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point to its highest point in 22 years. This marked the 11^th hike in the US central bank’s past 12 policy meetings. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell noted that inflation has moderated, but still has ways to go. Rising commodities prices helped Canada’s main stock index this week. The Canadian dollar was 75.59 cents USD. The U.S. S&P500 ended the week up 0.8%, while the TSX was down 0.1%.

It was a mixed bag of returns this week. Healthcare rose by a whopping 8.7%, while energy added 3.1%. Industrials edged up by 1.3%, while materials added 0.6%. Consumer discretionary and financials ended the week flat. Real estate slipped by 1.8%, while consumer staples gave up 1.7%. Technology lost 0.8% this week. The most heavily traded shares by volume were TC Energy Corporation, Canopy Growth Corporation, and Baytex Energy Corp.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

• Market resilience or investors in denial? A mid-year assessment for 2023 published by Aswath Damodaran of Musings on Market
• Unit labor costs are literally constructed using prices, by Preston Mui of Employ America
• It’s hard to build a durable business selling durable goods, authored by Byrne Hobart of the Diff
• Birth, death, and wealth creation, written by Michael Mauboussin and Dan Callahan of Morgan Stanley
• If other media companies thought about brand equity the way Elon Musk thinks about Twitter’s (X’s), by Joshua Benton of Nieman Lab

Happy Reading & Stay Safe!

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