The Canadian Vanguard Stock Market Report At Market Close – Thursday, March 21, 2024
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Data Driven Market Analysis And Report For Success Driven Investors
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The Toronto Market
The TSX composite advanced 41.55 points or 0.19% to close today’s market session at a record 22,087.26.
The Bank of Canada remarked today that the bank is, for now, sticking to the original timetable to reduce excess reserves from the bank’s balance sheet. The bank, speaking through its deputy governor at an event in Toronto today, tried to counter the current prevailing view by stock analysts’ that the quantitative-tightening program may be ending soon and the expectation that interest rates will start to come down soon. The deputy governor mentioned that there are stresses in the overnight market. The deputy governor, Toni Gravelle mentioned that the bank is not changing course but acknowledges that there is a risk that the quantitative-tightening may need to end earlier than expected.
Healthcare gained 0.75% to lead the sectors today; Industrial was up 0.59%; Financials gained 0.57% while Utilities sector gained 0.26%. Basic Materials gained 0.10% while Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services was even –unchanged. Energy declined -0.22%, Telecommunications Services declined -0.71% and Technology which was the top performing sector yesterday declined -0.73 and was the worst performing sector today.
Consumer Electronics gained 7.14% to lead the industries today. Electrical Components & Equipment gained 5.98%; Construction Materials was up 5.91% while Pharmaceuticals – Generic & Specialty and Paper Packaging gained 3.53 and 3.09% respectively.
Today’s Statistics: The gaining issues (Advancers) outnumbered the declined issues (Decliners) again today. The ratio of Advancers to Decliners was 2.36-to-1.0 or in practical terms, for every twelve Advancers there were five Decliners. In real numbers, 1,047 Advancers to 443 Decliners with 1115 Unchanged. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 206,338,682 or 57.4%; the total volume for declined stocks was 142,583,806 or 39.7% and 10,425,708 or 2.9 % for “Unchanged”.
Today, there were 454 new 52-Week Highs and 12 new 52-Week Lows. That was lopsidedly bullish, even more lopsided than yesterday’s performance.
The total volume of stocks traded at the TSX today was 359,348,196 compared to 353,084,467 yesterday, a 1.8% percent increase. Today’s volume of 359,348,196 was about nine percent higher than the average of the ten most recent market sessions.
The US Markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up again with a triple digit gain in points. The Dow was up 269.24 points, or 0.68%, to close at 39,781.37. The S&P 500 gained 16.91 points, or 0.89%, to close at 5,241.53. The Nasdaq Composite was up 32.43 points or 0.20%, to close at 16,401.84. Volume fell 3.09% at the NASDAQ market today. The US markets’ continue to rally, pushing indexes into record territory.
Financials led the sectors with 1.02% gain; Industrials gained 0.90%; both Basic Materials and Durable Consumer Goods & Services sectors were each up 0.41%; Energy was up 0.14%; both Technology and Healthcare sectors were each up 0.11%. Utilities declined 0.09% and Telecommunication Services declined -0.28%. We mentioned in this report yesterday that the big banks are worth looking at based on their stocks’ move since early in the year. The big banks have for the past several sessions been quietly making good gains at market session after market sessions.
Home Furnishing, up 3.27%, was the leading industry at the US markets today. Computer hardware gained 2.98%; Engineering & Construction was up 2.51%; Semiconductor Equipment & Testing gained 2.73 while Retail – Computers & Electronics was up 2.16%. Retail – Department Stores was the worst performing industry today with -3.49% decline.
Today’s Market Statistics: Today, the gaining issues (Advancers) outnumbered the declined issues (Decliners) on the NYSE. The ratio of Advancers to Decliners was 2.33-to-1.0 or in practical terms, approximately for every eleven Advancers there were five Decliners. In real numbers, 2,822 Advancers to 1,208 Decliners with 280 Unchanged. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 708,142,236 or 65.5%; the total volume for declined stocks was 359,755,427 or 33.3% and 12,725,972 or 1.2% for “Unchanged”.
Today, there were 918 new 52-Week Highs and 56 new 52-Week Lows, yesterday by comparison, there were 633 new 52-Week Highs and 71 new 52-Week Lows. On Tuesday, there were 286 new 52-Week Highs and 53 new 52-Week Lows. This was lopsidedly bullish.
The total volume of stocks traded at the NYSE today was 1,080,623,635 compared with 1,031,164,051 yesterday, a 4.7% increase. Today’s volume of 1,080,623,635 is about the average of the ten most recent market sessions.
On the NASDAQ, the Advancers prevailed over the Decliners today by a ratio of 1.41-to-1 or roughly for every three Advancers there were two Decliners. In real numbers, there were 2,513 Advancers to 1,782 Decliners with 312 Unchanged. The total volume of volume-gaining stocks was 2,962,832,947 or 55.7%; the total volume of declined-volume stocks was 2,264,574,111 or 42.6% and 89,428,329 or 1.7% for “Unchanged”.
Today, there were 365 new 52-Week Highs and 59 new 52-Week Lows by comparison yesterday, there were 251 new 52-Week Highs and 101 new 52-Week Lows. On Tuesday, there were 98 new 52-Week Highs and 126 new 52-Week Lows. The result shows a bullish market but the indexes are now back in record territories. Nothing goes up forever. The market will soon start to pullback.
The total volume of stocks traded at the NASDAQ today was 5,316,835,387 compared to 5,503,004,278 yesterday, a 3.4% decrease. Today’s volume of 5,316,835,387 is about two percent lower than the average of the last ten market sessions.
10 –year Treasury Yield: The US 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.24%, down a couple of basis points as at the time of this posting 11:56pm Thursday night.
The market outlook remains market in rally mode. The market will do whatever it wishes to do. Nothing in life keeps climbing up forever so caution is required with trades given the recent stock market climb to record territories. It is smart to take partial profit if a stock has run up 20% or more. Any gain remains a paper profit, that could evaporate at any time, until the stock is actually sold.
Stocks In The News/Stocks To Watch
The big banks are the big news today. Although the banks like JP Morgan Chase (JPM) have been making small but steady gains continuously since early in the year, the trend accelerated during the past two market sessions with all the big banks participating both in the US and Toronto markets.
Bank of America (BAC) gained 2.07% or $0.76 to close at $37.51 with 43.2M shares changing hands today.
Goldman Sachs Group (GS) gained 4.35% or $17.24 to close today at $413.71 with 4.6M shares traded.
Apple (APPL) stock declined -4.09% or -$7.30 to close at $171.37. Volume of shares traded was 106M. The US Department of Justice took the company to court today accusing the company of violating antitrust laws with its iPhone App store policies. Sixteen state and district attorney generals joined the federal government in the matter.
Last week Super Micro Computers Inc (SMCI) and Deckers Outdoor Corp (DECK) joined the elite list of stocks on the S&P 500. The DECK stock is a stock to keep an eye on and it is worth adding to one’s watchlist. Today DECK gained 4.13% or $37.76 to close at $952.94 with 439.1K shares traded. The DECK stock has been building a flat base since early February.
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