The week in Canadian markets is ending with continued losses as omicron fears linger.

Health care stocks fell over 2 per cent led by marijuana giants Canopy and Tilray, which shed almost 5 per cent each.

Energy stocks, for their part, climbed around 1 per cent after OPEC’s meetings yesterday and Wednesday, where it expressed a willingness to modify production in line with new lockdowns if they should arise.

Capping off a third-straight week of losses, the TSX is currently down 1.04 per cent to 20,545.30 as of 12:56 pm EST. Gold, a safe-haven asset, is responding appropriately with 1.07 per cent gains as investors grapple with a world struggling to find its pre-pandemic form.

While the TSX’s 3.3-per-cent November losses paint a dire picture, our public market is the strongest it has been since February 2020. Case in point, the Big Six banks, which represent over a fifth of the index, have all declared dividend hikes and share buybacks. Additionally, our economy’s second-largest sector, energy, is comprised of multi-national producers being called upon to help the world through an ongoing supply crunch.

Everyday Canadians are also benefitting from a turning of the tides, as the country added 154,000 jobs last month, including the first decline in long-term unemployed since August. The data points to an evening out of supply and demand, with companies increasing incentives to match workers’ concerns with rising inflation.

According to the United Nations, global food prices rose 1.2 per cent in November, mostly due to grains and dairy coupled with worker shortages and elevated shipping costs. Emerging countries were hit the hardest, with import prices outpacing those of developed nations, building a case for how increases in the cost of living were likely never transitory to begin with.

While global markets are anticipating a repeat of 2020 due to the new coronavirus variant, select pockets of volatility, and a lack of clarity as to how policy can contribute to a solution, there is reassurance in how investors, as a whole, tend to overshoot reality on the upside as well as down. Though far from normal, this holiday season is in many ways nothing like the last, as safety measures and the marvels of science have paved a path forward for us we were once hard-pressed to see.

Here are your top five stories making the rounds on The Market Herald Canada over the past week.

Datametrex (TSXV:DM) reports record Q3 results

Datametrex AI reported record results for the three and nine-month periods ending September 30, 2021.

Q3 gross revenue was C$10,821,697, up 123 per cent from Q3 2020.

Q3 net earnings were C$170,294, up 124 per cent from Q3 2020.

The company anticipates continued business growth and improvement of its balance sheet.

CEO Marshall Gunther sat down with Caroline Egan to discuss the record results.

Datametrex AI (DM) is down by 5 per cent over the past week trading at $0.19 per share as of 10:12 am EST.

Hank Payments (TSXV:HANK) delivers strong first quarter

Hank Payments filed its financial statements and MD&A for the three months ending September 30, 2021.

Revenue grew to US$936,866, up 25.3 per cent over the same period last year.

Users managing multiple payments increased by 68 per cent since March 1, 2020 and 17 per cent since the beginning of calendar 2021.

The multi-loan consumer lifetime value currently averages above US$1,000, with power users delivering between US$1,300 and US$1,700 at industry-leading margins. 

President and COO Jeff Guthrie joined Caroline Egan to speak about the results.

Hank Payments (HANK) is down by 17.5 per cent over the past week trading at $0.33 per share as of 10:50 am EST.

Railtown AI Technologies (CSE:RAIL) announces CSE listing

Railtown AI commenced trading on the CSE on November 29 under the symbol RAIL.

It also completed a prospectus offering for gross proceeds of C$2,227,480.

The company offers a SAAS solution to help software development teams detect, analyze and fix errors.

CEO Cory Brandolini and CTO Marwan Haddad sat down with Caroline Egan to explain the rationale behind the listing.

Railtown AI Technologies (RAIL) is down by 32.73 per cent over the past week trading at $0.37 per share as of 10:33 am EST.

Cloud DX (TSXV:CDX) selected by Medtronic for national collaboration

Cloud DX has been selected by Medtronic Canada to provide virtual health care to patients across Canada.

Medtronic seeks to integrate Cloud DX’s Connected Health platform and associated services within both perioperative and complex chronic disease pathways in Canada.

Cloud DX’s remote patient monitoring technology and services are exclusive to Medtronic and its Canadian client base.

Medtronic’s Jessica Rudd and Cloud DX’s CEO Robert Kaul joined Alex Jennings to shed light on the partnership.

Cloud DX (CDX) is down by 2.22 per cent over the past week trading at $0.22 per share as of 11:17 am EST.

FSD Pharma (CSE:HUGE) demonstrates positive effects of Lucid-MS in treating MS in pre-clinical models

FSD Pharma is sharing pre-clinical data demonstrating the potentially disease-modifying effects of its lead drug candidate, Lucid-MS.

The company is proposing Lucid-MS for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Interim CEO Anthony Durkacz spoke with Caroline Egan about the excitement surrounding the possible breakthrough.

FSD Pharma (HUGE) is down by 10.98 per cent over the past week trading at $1.54 per share as of 10:53 am EST.

Tune in next Friday afternoon for your recap of the week that was in the Canadian market.

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