The TSX added 1.58 per cent on Friday on decreasing wages and a firm gold price against a weaker dollar.
The energy sector gained 2.53 per cent in line with higher crude prices.
The tech sector closed up by 0.83 per cent, signaling a return of investors’ appetite for long-term risk beyond current expectations for a near-term global slowdown.
Gold is up by 5.5 per cent over the past month, compared to the U.S. dollar’s loss of 1.58 per cent to the Canadian dollar over that timeframe.
Earlier today, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s economy surpassed expectations with a gain of 104,000 jobs in December. This mark’s the country’s fourth-straight month of employment growth.
The country’s unemployment rate fell to 5 per cent from 5.4 per cent in November, undercutting the consensus forecast by 20 basis points.
The average hourly wage for permanent employees rose to 5.2 per cent YoY, down from 5.4 per cent in November. That said, total hours worked rose only 1.4 per cent YoY.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.84 per cent to just over US$0.74 following the report.
The data paints an unsustainable picture for the Canadian economy, supporting a further, perhaps more moderate rate hike from the Bank of Canada on January 25, 2023. This will be contingent on the central bank’s Business Outlook Survey on January 16 and Statistics Canada’s report on Canadian inflation on January 17.
U.S. indices were also in the green on cooling wages and moderating jobs growth in December, which led to increased dollar softness and renewed hopes for a soft deflationary landing.
Average hourly wages in the U.S. rose 0.3 per cent in December and 4.6 per cent YoY, both undercutting expectations of 0.4 and 5 per cent.
U.S. nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 in December, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 per cent, a five-decade low, according to Friday’s Labor Department report.
While weakening economic indicators raise the probability of an ease in Canadian inflation – which fell to 6.8 per cent in November from 8.1 per cent in June – there is a widespread expectation that the country will enter a mild recession in 2023.
Motivated by improving, though still concerning, macro data, our investor community spent the week pouring over technology names with the potential to endure short-term pain for outsized long-term returns.
Jackpot Digital (TSXV:JJ) signs partnership agreement with leading global gaming equipment manufacturer
Jackpot Digital has signed a partnership agreement with a leading global gaming equipment manufacturer.
The partner will manufacture Jackpot’s dealerless electronic table games and deliver fully assembled Jackpot Blitz ETGs ready for installation in casinos worldwide.
VP of Corporate Development Mathieu McDonald sat down with Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss the partnership.
The news follows encouraging revenue figures and a master services agreement with the largest regional gaming operator in the U.S.
Last November, CEO Jake Kalpakian joined Brieanna McCutcheon to delineate the company’s unique position in the gaming industry.
Jackpot Digital (JJ) closed up by 6.25 per cent over the past week, trading at $0.085 per share.
ARway (CSE:ARWY) announces upgrades to its spatial computing platform
ARway has launched version 2.0 of the Software Developer Kit (SDK) for its AR wayfinding and spatial computing platform.
The full ARway platform consists of the ARway app for spatial mapping, The Creator Portal for content management and analytics, and The ARwayKit SDK, for custom apps and integrations.
Evan Gappelberg, CEO of ARway, sat down with Sabrina Cuthbert to bring context to the news.
The company offers a metaverse and augmented reality experience that can be branded and customized for industry-specific use cases, paving the way for companies of all sizes and sectors to usher their technology stacks into the 21st century.
ARway’s solutions, with their clear path to monetization, go a long way toward minimizing the uncertainty embedded in most cutting-edge technology plays.
ARway’s efforts are also backed up by soaring optimism about metaverse adoption. The global market for the metaverse, valued at US$63 billion in 2021, is forecast to achieve a revenue CAGR of 43.2 per cent until 2030 (Emergen Research).
Last October, Gappelberg, also CEO of Nextech AR Solutions, spoke with Daniella Atkinson about the company’s rationale for spinning ARway out into the multi-billion dollar spatial computing market.
ARway (ARWY) closed down by 8.61 per cent over the past week, trading at $1.38 per share.
Datametrex’s (TSXV:DM) Medi-Call expands into Ontario and Alberta
Datametrex’s Medi-Call telehealth subsidiary has expanded into Ontario and Alberta.
The expansion was motivated by current shortages in healthcare availability across Canada.
CEO Marshall Gunter sat down with Daniella Atkinson to discuss the expansion and his confidence in it improving the company’s healthcare revenue and profits.
Similar to ARway’s logical commercialization strategy, Datametrex’s diversification across various technology verticals – cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, healthcare, and electric vehicles – makes it more likely to withstand volatile market environments.
This resilience is supported by the company’s profitability, as evidenced by Q3 results, and its insistence on firm foundations to sustain growth, as evidenced by the appointment of a former Via Rail COO as President of its electric vehicle division, and its business with high-profile clients, including Ford, Samsung and the United States Air Force.
Datametrex (DM) closed unchanged over the past week, trading at $0.07 per share.
