Canada’s main stock index ticked upward Tuesday with varying results across sectors, while U.S. markets were mixed.
Despite there being plenty for investors to chew on, markets didn’t move much Tuesday, noted Jules Boudreau, senior economist at Mackenzie Investments.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 42.71 points at 20,684.68.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 10.55 points at 33,976.63. The S&P 500 index was up 3.55 points at 4,154.87, while the Nasdaq composite was down 4.31 points at 12,153.41.
The big story was China’s economic growth in the latest quarter, said Boudreau. The country reported its economic growth accelerated as shoppers spent at restaurants and businesses after COVID restrictions were lifted.
It was a modest beat for a backward-looking number, and investors take China’s official data with a grain of salt, said Boudreau, but it was still a positive sign.
Meanwhile, U.S. banks continued to report decent results in the onset of earnings season, he said.
Of particular note are deposits, some of which are moving to the bigger banks, though small banks are still doing pretty well in terms of keeping deposits, said Boudreau.
It’s “pretty good news, and probably means that the Fed will be able to start looking again more at inflation and less at the banking sector,” he said.
The banks are also noting continued strength in consumer spending, he said.
Fresh inflation data showed price growth in Canada continued to slow, rising 4.3 per cent year-over-year in March compared with 5.2 per cent in February.
“At this point in the cycle, we’re going to be getting these big drops. We saw the same thing in the U.S.,” said Boudreau.
That’s because the year-over-year numbers have now rolled over last March, said Boudreau, which saw the fastest monthly increase in prices in three decades. That means the base-year price data for year-over-year inflation is now higher.
As well, oil prices dropped in March but have already more than recovered, noted Boudreau, another reason to be cautious when reading the inflation data for March.
“It’s going to need to come down a bit, but it’s definitely on the right path,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.70 cents UScompared with 74.64 cents US on Monday.
The June crude contract was up seven cents at US$80.90 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was up nine cents at US$2.37 per mmBTU.
The June gold contract was up US$12.70 at US$2,019.70 an ounce and the May copper contract was up three cents at US$4.09 a pound.
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