Market View

This week investors worried about the US Fed debt ceiling, inflation, rising yields, China, valuation, supply chain issues, oil prices, and worker shortages. This mirrors the concerns that caused the selloff in February 2021 (mostly bonds). Oil prices stabilized after Russia volunteered to ramp up gas export and the US showing growing crude stockpiles. Gold prices lowered while the US dollar powered through. The Canadian dollar was 80.22. U.S. S&P500 ended the week up 1.1%, while the TSX ended the week up 1.8%.

It was a relatively calm week despite the financial feed fog. Energy rose by 5.8%, followed by materials, which added 3.5%. Healthcare and consumer discretionary rose by 2.1%, each, while financials gained 1.9%. Staples added 0.8%, while technology ended the week up 0.5%. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Athabasca Oil, Cenovus Energy, and Suncor Energy.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

• The great inflation debate (Chartbook), published by Adam Tooze
• China’s energy crisis, written by Sahil Bloom of the Curiosity Chronicle
• How fear and family values led to the biggest hit in Netflix’s history, by Hahna Yoon of Slate.com
• We have no theory of inflation, by Duncan Weldon of Value Added
• Why this Facebook scandal is different, authored by Shirin Ghaffary of Vox Recode

Happy Reading & Stay Safe!

Disclosure: Please note that the author does not hold a financial or other interest in stocks or funds mentioned.