SIACharts Logo

Commentary >

 S&P/TSX Composite Index (TSX.I) & BMO Equal Weight Banks ETF (ZEB.TO)

The broad market rally which really got underway two weeks ago continued to gain traction this week. What appeared at first to be a bear market bounce has extended into a sizeable, broad-based rebound with the Dow Jones Industrial Average retesting its August peak yesterday.

Headwinds from interest rates and the US Dollar have continued to ease with the US 10-year treasury note yield dropping back toward 3.70% from a peak above 4.20% earlier this month, which has also helped bond markets to rebound.

Another sign that fear has been easing is that the VIX volatility index has continued to drop back toward 20, while cryptocurrencies have started to stabilize. Concerns about the health of the global economy continue to linger, however, keeping pressure on crude oil and copper, but natural gas has diverged with a big bounce.

The retailing sector has been in the spotlight this week. Retailer earnings were mixed and polarized with companies either doing much better or much worse than expectations. Overall, department store results were mixed, countercyclical discount stores did well, and there were some bright spots in specialty retailers. This weekend focus turns to anecdotal reports on mall traffic for Black Friday sales, although one may wonder how much of a bump we may see considering that our inbox tells us that a number of chains have been running pre-Black Friday sales for several weeks now.

The coming week is quiet for the most part for news and potentially markets as investors take a breather with US markets closed all day Thursday and Friday afternoon. The end of the month is coming though and once things get back up and running in earnest on Tuesday there are a number of items on the way for investors to digest including manufacturing PMI, GDP, inflation and employment reports.

In this edition of the Equity Leaders Weekly, we focus on Canada with a look at the S&P/TSX Composite Index and preview Canadian bank earnings week.

 S&P/TSX Composite Index (TSX.I)

Keep up to date on the latest financial market news.

Receive a daily newsletter with stock highlights, ETF rankings, weekly market focus and others.