Market View

Energy, Financials, and travel stocks were some of the North American favorites this week, as investors await key retail sales data. A decline in gold prices offset gains in crude oil prices leaving TSX futures flat. Concerns over rising cases of the Delta virus weighed on European stocks. The Canadian dollar was 79.40. U.S. S&P500 ended the week down 0.6%, while the TSX ended the week down 0.9%.

More sectors ended the week in red than green. Healthcare slid a whopping 7.2%, followed by energy, which declined 5.5%. Technology ended the week down 2.8%, while consumer discretionary slipped 1.7%. Consumer staples added 3%, while REITs gained 0.9%. Financials ended the week flat. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Royal Bank of Canada, B2Gold Corp, Suncor Energy.

5 from 5i

Here are five reads we found interesting last week:

• What is product-led growth? Posted on Productled.org
• The cost of cloud, a trillion dollar paradox, by Sarah Wang and Martin Casado of a16z
• Why Cuba is having an economic crisis, written by Noah Smith of Noahpinion
• Biden’s plan to make stuff cheap, by Sara Morrison of Vox.com
• An investing truth: roughly 80% of stocks are ‘Duds’, authored by Stephen Mcbride

Happy Reading & Stay Safe!

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