Market week: U.S. earnings buoy markets

China moves to fend off slowdown

Upbeat fourth-quarter earnings reports from U.S. companies and positive corporate forecasts for 2019 helped buoy stocks on Friday. While a deal between President Trump and Congressional Democrats to end the U.S. government shutdown didn’t really affect markets, it contributed to more optimistic investor sentiment. In addition, news that the People’s Bank of China is poised to inject an additional US$37 billion to support the country’s banks in an effort to stave off an economic slowdown also helped keep markets in the black on Friday. For the week, however, the big stock indices hovered just around breakeven, as the S&P 500 Composite posted a hairline loss of 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index eked out a minuscule 0.1% gain. Toronto’s S&P/TSX Composite Index likewise posted a near-breakeven week, with a modest 0.4% Advance, held back by a 0.3% decline in the price of crude oil.

FUND NEWS

* Arrow merges two funds. Arrow Capital Management proposes a merger of its Exemplar Tactical Corporate Bond Fund with $3.2 million in assets into its Exemplar Investment Grade Fund with $33.9 million in assets, effective March 27. “We continually review our product line-up and make changes that we believe are in the best interests of our investors. This proposed change simplifies our mutual fund offering and provides our clients with a more streamlined platform of high-quality funds,” said Managing Director & CIO Mark Purdy in a release.

* Desjardins debuts alternative ETF. Desjardins Global Asset Management launched its new alternative exchange traded fund, the Desjardins Alt Long/Short Equity Market Neutral ETF (TSX: DANC), which began trading on the TSX today. The fund seeks to achieve positive returns in both positive or negative equity market conditions. The fund is diversified in a number of pairs of correlated issuers generally within the same industry sector with the aim of neutralizing the net market value of long and short positions, and reducing sector biases and market exposure. It invests in long and short positions of stocks in Canada and internationally, Treasury bills, money market instruments or other equivalent short-term debt securities.

* Fidelity expands ETF and mutual fund lineup. Fidelity Investments Canada expanded its suite of ETFs and mutual funds with the launch of eight new factor-based Low Volatility and High Quality Factor ETFs and mutual funds, as shown in the accompanying table.

* Horizons expands total return ETF suite. Horizons ETFs Management debuted two new ETFs, expanding its Total Return Index suite to 14 ETFs. Horizons Equal Weight Canada REIT Index ETF (TSX: HCRE) tracks the Solactive Equal Weight Canada REIT Index (Total Return) of Canadian-listed real estate investment trusts. Horizons Equal Weight Canada Banks Index ETF (TSX: HEWB) tracks the Solactive Equal Weight Canada Banks Index (Total Return) of diversified Canadian bank stocks and will initially provide exposure to Canada's six largest banks.

* CIBC enters ETF market. CIBC Asset Management joined the competitive ETF market with the launch of two strategic beta equity ETFs. CIBC Multifactor Canadian Equity ETF (TSX: CMCE) and CIBC Multifactor U.S. Equity ETF (TSX: CMUE) invest in an equally weighted portfolio of equity securities in Canada or the U.S. that exhibit low volatility, quality value and high price momentum characteristics.

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