The Stock Market At Close – Tuesday, August 29
The Toronto Market
The Toronto TSX composite index gained 265.27 points, or 1.32%, at 20,290.41, its highest closing in two weeks. It was octane time at the TSX Composite Index today. The index has made big climbs in two consecutive market sessions.
Activities at the Toronto market was driven by the issues at the US markets. Economic reports indicated that the previously quite robust US job market may be softening. The job market has been a big driver affecting Feds Reserve’s decision rate hikes. Most other economic data had softened under the crushing weight of massive rate hikes but the job market had remained stubborn. News that the stubborn job market may finally be showing some cracks was enough to trigger triple digit day-climbs in the market indexes.
Technology stocks are always sensitive to rate hikes and the Technology was big gainer today climbing 2.28%. Energy sector rose 1.38%. Financials gained 1.22% as all the big banks gained. Discretionary consumer Goods & services was one of the top gaining sectors today with a gain of 1.91%. Utilities was the worst performing sector today but it still gained 0.56%.
The market made robust gains today driven by good volume increase. However, some caution is still required. One must pay close attention to economic news as some of the data could rattle the markets if the data, for example, points at strong labor market. Later this week non-farm payrolls is due. The US PCI and the second quarter GDP report are also due later this week.
Today’s Statistics: Today, the gaining issues (advancers) completely outnumbered the declined issues (decliners). The ratio of advancers to decliners was 6.40-to-1.00. In real numbers, 1,255 advancers to 196 decliners with 164 unchanged. There were 63 new 52-week highs and 21 new 52-week lows. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 233,432,451 or 87.2%; the total volume for declined stocks was 28,405,606 or 10.6% and 5,728,061 or 2.1% for “Unchanged”.
The total volume of stocks traded today was 267,566,118 compared to 232,059,531 on yesterday.
On a day that the ratio of gaining stocks to declined stocks was 6.40 to 1, a stock that declined probably should be weeded out of one’s portfolio at least temporarily and marked for review after next quarter.
The US Market
The US Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed the number of job openings stood at 8.827 million in July, falling for the third straight month and signaling easing labor market pressures. The report was the main driver at the markets today.
The Dow Jones index gained 292.69 points, or 0.85%, to close at 34,852.67. The S&P 500 gained 64.32 points, or 1.74%, to close at 4,487.63. The Nasdaq Composite added 238.63 points, or 1.74%, to close at 13,943.76.
The markets today gave a broad based performance. Today was a rising tide that lifts all boats. All sectors ended in green. Telecommunications led the sectors today with a gain of 2.29%.Technology followed with a gain of 2.16%. Basic Materials (houses the mining companies) gained 1.65%. Financials gained 1.11% and Energy gained 0.71%. Utilities was worst performing sectors but gained 0.39%. That is an indication of the strength of the market today.
July PCE inflation data, the Fed’s favorite gauge, is due for release on Thursday. On Friday, the Labor Department will release the August jobs report.
Today’s Statistics: Today, the gaining issues (advancers) outnumbered the declined issues (decliners) on both the NYSE and NASDAQ. The ratio of decliners to advancers on the NYSE was 5.08-to-1. In real numbers, 3,342 advancers to 657 decliners with 251 unchanged. There were 103 new 52-week highs and 39 new 52-week lows. The total volume of volume-gaining stocks was 666,609,819 or 83.5%; the total volume of declined-volume stocks was 123,871,383 or 15.5%; and 8,158,157 or 1.0% “Unchanged”.
The total volume of stocks traded on the NYSE today was 798,639,359 compared to 705,636,093 yesterday. Smart investors and traders may be staying away from the weak market. Volume today was 13.2% higher than yesterday. The volume today on the NYSE was below the usual daily average.
The strength of the market gains today can be gleaned from the ratio 103 to 39 for the new 52-week highs to new 52-week lows. Stocks naturally must trade up and down. That is the nature of the things a stock that crashes on a day like today is a stock to be avoided in the short term. Such a stock most likely needs some time “to put things together”.
On the NASDAQ, the ratio of advancers to decliners was 2.63-to-1. The advancers prevailed. In real numbers, 3,145 decliners to 1,194 advancers with 369 unchanged. There were 70 new 52-week highs and 129 new 52-week lows. The total volume of volume-gaining stocks was 3,883,339,847 or 80.3%; the total volume of declined-volume stocks was 910,577,310 or 18.8% and 44,936,784 or 0.9% for “Unchanged”.
The total volume of stocks traded today was 4,838,853,941 compared to 3,736,526,680 yesterday. The volume today was 29.5% higher compared to the volume yesterday.
Oil and the money markets: U.S. crude oil prices rose 1.3% to $81.16 a barrel.
10–year Treasury Yield: The 10-year Treasury yield tumbled 9 basis points to 4.12%, sliding on the job openings data. It is noteworthy that the rate is still above 4%.
Regular Market Day Features
Beginner Investor’s (Canadian stocks) Watchlist
The Canadian Vanguard Chinese Stocks Watchlist
EV, Energy and Resource Stocks Watchlist
In our EV stocks watchlist, Tesla will remain a good stock to follow for a long time but Li Autos (LI) looks likely to be the one to deliver better returns for investors new to the market.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
SUBSCRIPTION Offer: We thank you for following our Stock Market posts but please be aware that we shall soon be restricting these articles to subscribers only.
We do not send this publication by email to readers. If you receive a copy by email please simply forward the email to us.
