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The TSX Composite Index fell a tad bit (0.07 per cent) Thursday, November 18, losing 15.48 points. The top five losers were all Cannabis stocks as the S&P/TSX Cannabis Index plummeted 10 per cent by market close and is down 18.59 per cent week-to-date. By close, healthcare was down nearly seven per cent.
Thursday showed some of the real challenges facing marijuana legalization in the US. Just when it looked like we were seeing bipartisan support after the GOP got on the green wagon with most Americans wanting legalization, a few of the top Democrats declared the Republican bill is not comprehensive enough. They seek retroactive erasure of past criminal records surrounding the buying and selling of the substance and pardons.
The Dems say their comprehensive bill will end “decades of harm”, possibly referring to Presidents Nixon and Reagan’s “War on Drugs”. They argue passing the GOP bill will make it extremely hard to pass more sweeping reforms. Effectively, the situation is now at a deadlock.
Meanwhile, financials, arguably the index’s strongest sector, saw its second consecutive day in red which doesn’t happen often. However, energy and industrials were able to offset a significant part of these loses to land Canada’s benchmark index at 21,637.54 points.
One-year price chart (November 18). Analysis by Kalkine Group
Volume active
Manulife Financial Corporation was the most traded stock with 22.89 million shares exchanging hands. It was followed by Definity Financial Corporation with nearly 8.16 million shares exchanging hands. In third place was Sun Life Financial Inc with 6.69 million shares exchanging hands. All three financial stocks ended the day in the red.
Movers and laggards
Wall Street indices S&P 500 and Nasdaq clock record closes
Trade was chaotic on Wall Street Thursday with the main indices plummeting on open, skyrocketing mid-morning, sinking around late noon and rallying towards close. Nonetheless, the day saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq end at record highs. Semiconductor maker Nvidia’s strong earnings probably had a hand in that.
The S&P 500 was up 15.87 points, 0.34 per cent, to 4,704.54 points and the Nasdaq Composite grew by 72.14 points, 0.45 per cent, to 15,993.71, a stone’s throw away from the 16,000-mark. The Dow was in the red by 60.1 points, or 0.17 per cent, down to 35,870.95.
Gold falls
Gold fell 0.49 per cent to US$ 1,861.10. Brent oil was up 0.93 per cent to US$ 81.03/bbl, while crude oil fell again, but a marginal 0.06 per cent to US$ 78.31/bbl.
Loonie unchanged
The loonie remained unchanged at 1.2605. The US Dollar Index fell 0.32 per cent against the basket of major currencies Thursday and ended at 95.52.
Money market
The US 10-year bond yield ended slightly higher by 0.11 per cent Thursday to 1.587 while the Canada 10-year bond yield jumped 0.71 per cent to 1.705.
