Market week: Selling in May

Trade tensions, economic concerns worry investors

The main North American stock indices posted losses for the week as sentiment remained ultra-sensitive to various oracular pronouncements from President Donald Trump on the continuing trade-and-tariff dispute with China. Mr. Market’s mood brightened somewhat during Friday’s session as Trump indicated the U.S. ban on Chinese telecommunications company Huawei may be eased as part of a larger trade deal, although he said Huawei remains a security threat. Theresa May’s resignation as British Prime Minister in the face of the seemingly intractable Brexit dilemma had little to no impact on North American markets on Friday, as that widely-anticipated move had already been discounted for some time. However, softer economic data in both the U.S. and Europe have made investors wary and watchful. The S&P 500 Composite Index lost 1.2% on the week, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.3%. Toronto’s S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 1.1% with pressure on the energy sector from a weekly 6.0% loss in crude oil.

Index	May 24, 2019, close	Day	Week	Year to date
S&P/TSX Composite	16,230.04	0.4%	-1.05%	13.32%
S&P 500 Composite	2,826.06	0.1%	-1.17%	12.73%
Nasdaq Composite	7,637.01	0.1%	-2.29%	15.10%
Gold (US$)	$1,289.70	-0.1%	0.94%	0.78%
Oil (WTI) (US$)	$58.96	1.8%	-5.96%	29.84%

FUND NEWS

* Horizons launches leveraged and inverse weed ETFs. Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) announced the launch of a leveraged and an inverse marijuana ETF, both of which began trading on May 24.

BetaPro Marijuana Companies 2x Daily Bull ETF (TSX: HMJU) aims for daily investment results corresponding to two times (200%) the daily performance of the North American MOC Marijuana Index (NTR).

BetaPro Marijuana Companies Inverse ETF (TSX: HMJI) targets daily investment results corresponding to one times (100%) the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the North American MOC Marijuana Index (TR)

The ETFs provide leveraged or inverse exposure to the North American MOC Marijuana Index, which tracks the daily performance of a basket of North American publicly-listed companies with significant business activities in the marijuana industry.

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Disclaimer

The foregoing is for general information purposes only and is the opinion of the writer. No guarantee of investment performance is made or implied. It is not intended to provide specific personalized advice including, without limitation, investment, financial, legal, accounting or tax advice.