Market week: Indices reach for new records

S&P/TSX Composite touches all-time high

The major North American stock market indices all gained nearly 1% on the week, either close to or touching record highs during the week, as U.S.-China trade tensions eased on reports of a possible restart of negotiations in October. Also helping to buoy investor sentiment was a better-than-expected 0.4% increase in U.S. retail sales in August (4.1% annual rate), driven by big-ticket items like cars and trucks, suggesting strengthening consumer confidence. That was validated by an increase in the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence index, which notched up to 92 in September compared with 89.8 in August.

Sentiment got another boost as the trend to monetary easing continued with the European Central Bank announcing on Thursday that it would cut its key deposit rate to -0.5% from -0.4% and that it will again repurchase long-term government bonds at a rate of €20 billion a month in an effort to dampen interest rates.

Toronto’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 0.9% on the week, led by a 4% rally the S&P/TSX Capped Financial Index and a 5.5% gain for the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index, as the TSX touched an intra-day record high on of 16,696.40 on Thursday. The 1.2% retreat in the price of gold on the week and the 3.1% decline in the price of crude oil had little impact on TSX performance for the week.

The U.S. blue-chip S&P 500 Composite Index gained 1% on the week, while the technology-weighted Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.9%.

FUND NEWS

* CI to shut down two ETFs. CI Investments Inc. announced on Sept. 13 that it will terminate its CI First Asset Core Canadian Equity ETF (TSX: CED) ($5 million in assets) and CI First Asset Core U.S. Equity ETF (TSX: CES) ($5 million in assets) and its related versions, CES.B; and CES.U, on or about Nov. 29. No reason was given for the terminations.

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