In line with expectations, today’s announcement of the headline inflation figure for Canada showed that inflation has dropped.
Statistics Canada announced that inflation dropped from 8.1 per cent in June to 7.6 per cent in July. That was the first time inflation had dropped since June 2021.
The drop in year-over-year inflation was caused mainly by a drop in gasoline prices. With the exclusion of gasoline prices, the aggregation of other hundreds of costs that make up the consumer price index remained slightly higher at 6.6 per cent in July as against 6.5 per cent in June, a sign that inflation has affected all facets of the economy. It is also a sign that the steep rise in gasoline prices hugely impacted the economy.
In response to the recent positive mood of the economy, the stock market has continued on a bullish move. After going over the 20,000 mark on Friday – the first since June 10, when the market closed at 20,274.80 – the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index has remained above 20,000.
When the market opened today, Canada’s main stock index opened with a zest at 20,182.23. By 9:42 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index, stood at 20,213.32, with a gain of 32.72 points or 0.16 per cent.
By 12.30 pm, the index had risen to 20,268.55, with a gain of 87.95 points or 0.44 per cent. With that, comparative figures showed that the index had gained 7.04 per cent in the last month and 3.54 per cent in the past five days. It had also closed the gap in the losses of the other more extended periods. For example, in the past three months, the index cut its loss to 1.07 per cent. Last year, it had narrowed its loss to 0.45 per cent.
Among the sectors, health care led the gainers’ chart with 1.07 per cent, followed by consumer staples with 1.02 per cent, while the financials came third with 1.02 per cent.
On the flip side, energy led the least-performing sectors’ chart with a slash of 1.41 per cent, followed by real estate with a loss of 0.12 per cent, while information tech came third from the bottom with a gain of 0.09 per cent.
The top three best-performing stocks at the middle of the day were Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. with a gain of 3.46 per cent; Linamar Corp. with a gain of 3.13 per cent; and BlackBerry Ltd. Stock with a gain of 3.05 per cent.
Conversely, the top three least-performing stocks were Exchange Income Corp. with a loss of 5.89; Athabasca Oil Corp. with a loss of 4.70 per cent; and Dye & Durham Ltd. with a loss of 4.65 per cent.
The feel-good mood also spread to the American market. The S&P 500 stood at 4,316.12, gaining 18.98 points or 0.44 per cent, while the DOW rose to 34,213.70, adding 301.26 points or 0.89 per cent.
The Canadian dollar also firmed up by 0.0032 cents or 0.4105 per cent, exchanging at 0.7779 for an American dollar.
Crude oil was down to US$86.23 per barrel, recording a loss of $3.18 or 3.56 per cent.
Now let us look at the stories that attracted the attention of our readers the most.
Market movers
Our investment-savvy community showed more interest in stories in the mining and health care sectors.
American Pacific Mining (USGD) agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Constantine Metal Resources Ltd (CEM).
Sonoro Gold Corp. (SGO) released results from an underground channel sampling program at its Cerro Caliche gold project.
Finally, Medicenna (MDNA) released its financial results and operational highlights for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, its first quarter of fiscal 2023, showing that the company had cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $19.3 million at June 30, 2022, compared to $20.5 million at March 31, 2022.
For the week, the companies that have engaged in capital raises so far include Infinity Stone Ventures, Poko, Magna Mining, and Blackline.
