The Canadian Vanguard Stock Market Report At Market Close – Friday, March 22, 2024 .
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Your Weekend Data Driven Market Analysis And Report
The Toronto Market As At Friday March 22.
The TSX composite declined -103.18 points or -0.47% to close Friday’s market session at 21,984.08. The TSX dropped below the 22,000 points level in two days. On March 28th, 2022, the TSX touched 22,000 but closed slightly below the figure. The index did not get back close to that level for roughly two years. The index closed 22,087 on Thursday, Oil price has been trending upwards which is likely to offer some support in keeping TSX up. The market will of course always do what it wishes to do. We’ll keep an eye on how the index performs in the near term.
Healthcare, up1.41%, continued to lead the sectors for the second session in a row; Durable Consumer Goods & Services was up 0.67% and Industrials sector was up 0.21% making a good week for the industrials. The rest of the ten sectors ended the Friday session in red. Energy sector was the top performer among the decliners. The sector was down a mere -0.04%; Utilities was down -0.25%; Basic Materials declined -0.66%; Financials declined -0.70% as most of the big banks gave back practically all of the previous sessions’ gains. Technology was down -0.90% while Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services declined -1.19% and Telecommunications Services declined -1.53%. It was probably a good week to load up on Telecom industry shares if you have been waiting for the shares to go down.
For the week, Healthcare sector was up an impressive 8.66%; Industrials sector was up 2.04% while Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services was up 1.23%. Technology was up 0.94% and Financials sector was up 0.85%. Basic Materials declined a mere -0.06% but Telecommunications Services declined -2.38%.
Computer Hardware industry had a good session climbing 21.89% on Friday. Aluminum industry was up 12.5%; Pharmaceutical – Generic & Specialty was up 5.53%; Heavy Electrical gained 2.14% on Friday while Insurance – Multiline was up 1.91%. Semiconductors, down -3.14%, was the worst performing industry on Friday. Some of the companies within Computer Hardware industry are: Irwin Naturals Inc. (TSX:IWIN), Quantum eMotion Corp (TSX:QNC) and Route1 Inc. (TSX:ROI).
Today’s Statistics: The declined issues (Decliners) outnumbered the gaining issues (Advancers) today. The ratio of Decliners to Advancers was 1.12-to-1.0 or in practical terms, for every eleven Decliners there were ten Advancers. In real numbers, 773 Decliners to 687 Advancers with 103 Unchanged. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 110,938,008 or 36.0%; the total volume for declined stocks was 187,045,303 or 60.6% and 10,452,808 or 3.4% for “Unchanged”.
Today, there were 231 new 52-Week Highs and 5 new 52-Week Lows. That was lopsidedly bullish although the overall market in Toronto on Friday was bearish. The rally is very much alive but a good number of stocks are extended in price so the risk of a market pullback is real. It may be time to start looking at some small caps where there may be room for a good price increase and big caps with good fundamentals but which may not necessarily be AI driven. The market is being driven currently in part by the idea that those crippling gargantuan interest rate hikes are gone at least for now.
The total volume of stocks traded at the TSX today was 308,436,119 compared to 359,348,196 yesterday, a 14% percent decrease. Today’s volume of 308,436,119 was about six percent lower than the average of the ten most recent market sessions.
The US Markets
The American market closed mixed on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down a triple digit decline in points. The Dow was down -305.47 points, or -0.77%, to close at 39,475.90. The S&P 500 was down -7.35 points, or -0.14%, to close at 5,241.53 but remains in record territory. The Nasdaq Composite gained 26.98 points or 0.16%, to close at 16,428.82. Volume was down -15% at the NASDAQ market on Friday.
The sectors went through a bearish market session of Friday. Only two of the major sectors in the US market ended the day in green: Technology, up 0.24%, the top performing sector and Utilities which gained 0.11%. Financials, down -1.00%, was the worst performing sector as the big banks practically gave back the previous market sessions’ gains. Energy was down -0.23%; Healthcare was down -0.26%; Durable Consumer Goods & Services was down – 0.41%; Industrials declined -0.53% and Basic Materials was down -0.71%.
All the sectors gained for the week with Financials sector gaining a hefty 7.90%. Technology was a distant second to the Financials, up 3.16%, which is quite respectable for a sector made of a good number of companies. Industrials sector was up 2.60% while Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services was up 2.24%. Basic Materials, Energy and Utilities sectors were up 1.7%, 1.37% and 1.32% respectively.
Airport Services, up 2.40%, was the top industry on Friday; Air Freight & Courier Services was up 2.13%; Advertising / Marketing was up 1.54%; Semiconductors was up 1.46% and Household Products industry was up 1.13%.
Today’s Market Statistics: The declined issues (Decliners) outnumbered the gaining issues (Advancers) on the NYSE on Friday. The ratio of Decliners to Advancers to was 1.86-to-1.0 or in practical terms, approximately for every two Decliners there was one Advancer. In real numbers, 2,570 Decliners 1,381 Advancers with 302 Unchanged. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 207,494,346 or 23.3%; the total volume for declined stocks was 663,976,353 or 74.7% and 17,938,735 or 2.0% for “Unchanged”.
Today, there were 341 new 52-Week Highs and 33 new 52-Week Lows. This result was lopsidedly bullish but the overall market was bearish. The rally remains but it appears to be moving on “tired legs” with a good number of the technology stocks extended in price. The two main factors currently powering the rally are:
(i) AI and the changing pattern of “computer power consumption” by both the average and power users and (ii) the readings or speculation that the days of gargantuan interest rate hikes are over at least for now.
The total volume of stocks traded at the NYSE today was 889,409,434 compared with 1,080,623,635 yesterday, a 17% decrease. Today’s volume of 889,409,434 is about the average of the ten most recent market sessions.
On the NASDAQ, the Decliners prevailed over the Advancers Friday by a ratio of 1.85-to-1 or roughly for every eighteen Decliners there were only ten Advancers. In real numbers, there were 2,784 Decliners to 1,505 Advancers with 288 Unchanged. The total volume of volume-gaining stocks was 1,941,263,373 or 43.7%; the total volume of declined-volume stocks was 2,451,017,858 or 55.1% and 54,681,286 or 1.2% for “Unchanged”.
Today, there were 135 new 52-Week Highs and 97 new 52-Week Lows.
The total volume of stocks traded at the NASDAQ today was 4,446,962,517 compared to 5,316,835,387 yesterday, a 17% decrease. Today’s volume of 4,446,962,517 is about five percent lower than the average of the last ten market sessions.
Oil Price: Oil was up at $81.09 or up 0.56% as at the time of posting this report.
10 –year Treasury Yield: The US 10-year Treasury yield was down to 4.20%, down about seven basis points.
The market outlook remains market in rally mode. The rally is alive but the risk of a pullback for stocks with price extended is real. It may be a good idea to not chase prices in “to the clouds” prices. The two main factors currently powering the rally are (i) AI and the changing pattern of “computer power consumption” by both the average and power users and (ii) the readings or speculation that the days of gargantuan interest rate hikes are over at least for now. More and more people are using computers – the cell phone is the computer. However, cell phones require data centers since they battery powered portable devices and will always be limited in the computing accessories available. The rally is being driven by realities, investors just need to take the gains in small doses and also possibly spread across the sectors.
Stocks In The News/Stocks To Watch
The US Markets
The Financials sector was up 7.8% last week. The Financials are certainly worth keeping any eye on in the short term.
Today is about new ethnic restaurants and investors – US demographics, ethnic restaurants and investors – Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) is one restaurant stock that has been dazzling during the past eighteen months. American demographics are becoming more diversified and more new immigrants want to and may be able to afford to continue eating what they were used to eating where they migrated from. CMG has been a success. If you missed out on the stock, do not despair as you can still climb on. The stock is a little pricy though. However, there is an alternative in the making. We shall keep an eye on CAVA Group Inc. (CAVA). The company, according to records operates a category-defining Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant brand. The Company operates approximately 309 fast-casual CAVA restaurants in 24 states and Washington, D.C. The stock is worth keeping an eye on.
Regular Market Day Features
Beginner Investor’s (Canadian stocks) Watchlist
The big banks are worth a second look. It is best to ignore Friday’s performance.
The Canadian Vanguard Chinese Stocks Watchlist
We are going to keep Pinduoduo on our watchlist.
EV, Energy and Resource Stocks Watchlist
EV manufacturers are beginning to look like a very long time investment indeed if bought low. It is a good idea to sell when the price declines eight percent or more. There is good mathematics behind the idea.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Readers are reminded that the market’s performance at the following day’s market session may completely differ from the market performance at the overnight markets.
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