The Stock Market At Close – Friday, May 26
The Toronto Market
The TSX composite index gained 146.23 points, or 0.7%, to close at 19,920.31. Last week Friday, the index closed at 20,351.06 up 53.97 points on that day. The TSX for the week declined -430.75 points or -2.12%. The big 6 banks contributed to the TSX decline this week. The US debt–ceiling negotiation also played a role in the decline.
Progress was reported today in the US debt-ceiling talks which gave North American markets, TSX included, the big lift today. According to Reuter’s reports, a firm agreement between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the White House is just $70 billion away. Incidentally, that amount is just about the gain in the Market Cap of NVIDIA yesterday, May 25th, 2023 – just a one day gain. The NVIDIA stock price rose from the closing value of $305 at market close Wednesday to $379 at market close yesterday, Thursday.
Within the TSX sectors, Technology gained 1.87% while the Financials gained 1.01%. The energy sector gained 0.48%. Oil settled 1.2% higher selling at $72.67 a barrel today. Only the Healthcare sector finished in the red today but the sector and the energy sector are the only two sectors that managed to finish with a gain for the week.
Today’s Statistics: Today, the advancers outnumber the decliners. The ratio of declined issues to gaining issues was 2.17-to-1.00. The ratio was much improved for the advancers compared to yesterday. In real numbers, 925 advancers to 425 decliners with 191 unchanged. There were 85 new 52 week highs and 55 new 52 week lows. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 184,630,295 or 71.3%; the total volume for declined stocks was 67,715,259 or 26.2% and 6,586,627 or 2.5% for “Unchanged”.
The US Markets
The US market will be closed Monday for memorial day.
The Dow Jones index ended a five-day losing streak to close the market session today at 33,093.34 points gaining 1% or 328.69 for the day. The S&P 500 gained 1.3% to close at 4,205.45 its highest level since before labour day last year. The Nasdaq Composite Index has been on a tear, dismissing in a few days any likelihood of going back below the 12000 mark. The NASDAQ closed today at 12,975.69 after gaining 2.19% during the market session.
The NASDAQ composite index is now within view of the 13,000 points mark. It will most likely touch that point on Tuesday. Will it stay above 13,000? We will see, but we think it is likely. We report the market and try to avoid guess work but an occasional prediction simply adds some spice to the day’s report especially on a sunny Friday evening like today in Toronto. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, eight rose, led by information technology, up 2.68%, and followed by a 2.38% gain in consumer discretionary.
It is very likely the debt-ceiling deal will get done this weekend. If the deal gets done then the market will be back to the old “regular” interest rate hike related considerations. There is a time lag between interest rates hike announcements and when the economy starts to show the effect and reflect the impact of rate hikes. For today though, the market totally forgot about interest rate hikes. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, eight rose, led by information technology, up 2.68%, and followed by a 2.38% gain in consumer discretionary.
The Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index released today showed the basic info – US Core PCE Price Index YoY is at 4.70%, compared to 4.63% last month and 5.03% last year. Traders now see a 60% chance of a 25-basis-point hike by the Fed at its June policy meeting. This is up from about 40% before the PCE data was released, according to the CME FedWatch tool. The new rally: Market practitioners are humans at the end of the day. A relief rally was, for today, what the doctor ordered. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, eight rose, led by information technology, up 2.68%, and followed by a 2.38% gain in consumer discretionary. This is a long weekend after all. This rally will persist for some time unless the debt-ceiling talks comes to an abrupt end without a deal. This scenario looks unlikely although possible.
Today’s Statistics: Today, the advancers prevailed over the decliners on both the NYSE and the NASDAQ. The ratio of gaining issues to declined issues on the NYSE was 2.41-to-1. In real numbers, 2,780 advancers to 1,146 decliners with 265 unchanged. There were 126 new 52 week highs and 112 new 52 week lows. The total volume for gaining stocks was 604,826,337 or 70.1%; the total volume for declining stocks was 250,708,215 or 29.0%; and 7,700,966 or 0.9% “Unchanged”. Total volume of stocks traded was 863,235,518.
On the NASDAQ, the ratio of gaining issues to declined issues was 1.85-to-1 or in real numbers, 2,873 advancers to 1,555 decliners with 420 unchanged. There were 126 new 52 week highs and 140 new 52 week lows. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 3,190,732,344 or 70.7%; the total volume for declining stocks was 1,276,165,433 or 28.3% and 45,983,388 or 1.0% for “Unchanged”. Total volume of stocks traded was 4,512,881,165.
The S&P 500 posted 17 new highs and 15 new lows.
Stocks In The News/Stocks To Watch
The Toronto Market
All five big banks finished in green today each gaining around 1.3%, except for TD which gained 0.62%.
Celestica Inc. (CLS) has the highest per cent gain in the TSX today. The stock gained 10.27% or $1.63 to close the market session at $17.50 with 320,724 shares changing hands. BMO Capital adjusted Price Target on Celestica to $14.50 from $15.50, and maintained Outperform Rating.
Shopify Inc. (SHOP) gained 2.57% to close at $80.69 today
The US Markets
Ford Motor Co (F) jumped 6.2% after the automaker signed a deal allowing customers to access more than 12,000 Tesla Inc. (TSLA) Superchargers in North America in early 2024. Tesla jumped 4.7% or $8.70 continuing its climb towards the $200.00 mark. Volume of shares traded was 162.1M.
Super Micro Computer Inc. added 5.96% gain today to yesterday’s big gain. The stock gained $12.32 to close at $219.18 with 5M shares traded. Arista Networks (ANET) also added to yesterday’s big performance gaining $14.15 or 9.06% to close at $170.35 with 87M shares changing hands.
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) gained $83.93 or 11.52% to close at $812.73 with 8.3M shares traded. Broadcom purchased VMware some months back. Broadcom is getting pricey for most of our readers. Broadcom and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) have done well for people who follow our recommendations. CMG closed today at $2,071.02 gaining just $13.12 today. We started following the stock last year when the price was around $1,350.00.
Regular Market Day Features
Beginner Investor’s (Canadian stocks) Watchlist
The banks did well today.
The Canadian Vanguard Chinese Stocks Watchlist
EV, Energy and Resource Stocks Watchlist at Today’s Market
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