Markets rally on despite Geopolitical headwinds

By Justin Turner CIM, DMS®, CFP®

Markets got a bit of a scare last week when a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet went down over Eastern Ukraine.  The scare appears to have been short lived as far as the markets are concerned and they have not only recovered, North American markets have set new highs since the incident.  Last week the TSX and the Dow each rallied another 0.9% while the S&P 500 moved up another 0.5%.

 

This week brings earnings from many of the big names.  In Canada Loblaws, Encana, Canadian National Railway, Potash, Teck Resources and others will be reporting.  Some of the big US names that will be reporting include Apple, Microsoft, Verizon, Boeing, Starbucks and Facebook.  This week’s earnings will most likely have a significant impact on whether the rally can keep on going or whether it is time for a breather.

Markets take a breather as European bank worries return

By Justin Turner CIM, DMS®, CFP®
Stock markets around the world took a breather as European bank worries caused investors to take profits.  The return of the dreaded PIIGS acronym is unsettling, especially after what happened in 2011.  Most of the worry is due to Portuguese Banco Espirito Santo having trouble making payments on its debt and so far most of the fear has been isolated to the PIIGS countries sending their markets lower and bond yields higher.  Flight to safety has caused German bond yields to do the exact opposite reaching record lows.

 

North American markets fell during the week but still managed to finish close to their all-time highs.  The TSX managed to stay above the 15,000 mark although energy names continued to sell off falling 2.8% on the week while materials were able to partially offset that, rallying 1.9% during the week due to increased demand for gold caused by the aforementioned European worries.  This week could be an important one with stock markets, gold and oil all hovering around important technical levels. 

 

The big news this week includes Wednesday's Bank of Canada rate announcement and earnings from various US blue chip names including IBM, Intel, Yahoo and JP Morgan just to name a few.  The Bank of Canada is likely to keep the overnight rate at 1% but investors will be on the look out for any change in language that could give clues as to what the next move could be.

Strong job numbers help the Dow crack the 17,000 mark

By Justin Turner CIM, DMS®, CFP®
Despite the Canada Day and Independence day shortened trading week, there was no shortage of good news for the markets highlighted by the greater than expected US employment numbers.  The US added almost 300k jobs in the month which helped the S&P 500 add to its record and close near the 2000 mark.  The Nasdaq also seems unstoppable this year and added another 2.4% to its already strong year to date performance.   The big news of course is that the Dow has managed to break the 17,000 level for the first time. 

 

The TSX also gained on the week setting brand new highs on 3 of the 4 trading days.  Despite the new highs energy stocks are starting to cool off a bit which will be something to keep an eye on.  They represent a large percentage of the TSX and will most likely need to perform well if the TSX hopes to outperform going forward.