Market week: Tariff talk hopes boost stocks

Hope for U.S.-China trade deal

The potential for a successful trade-tariff deal in negotiations between the U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Vice Premier Liu He helped boost investor sentiment on Friday, giving the major North American stock indices fresh weekly gains. While a weak quarterly earnings report by food-processing behemoth Kraft Heinz Co. (NYSE: KHC) took some of the shine off market optimism, the major market gauges still closed Friday with gains for both the day and the week. The S&P 500 Composite Index advanced 0.6% on the week, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.7%. A 2.6% weekly gain in the price of crude oil also helped Toronto’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index rise to a 1.1% week-over-week gain.

Index	Feb. 22, 2019, close	Day	Week	Year to Date
S&P/TSX Composite	16,013.01	0.1%	1.10%	11.80%
S&P 500 Composite	2,792.67	0.6%	0.62%	11.40%
Nasdaq Composite	7,527.54	0.9%	0.74%	13.45%
Gold (US$)	$1,330.80	0.2%	0.46%	3.99%
Oil (WTI) (US$)	$57.18	0.4%	2.57%	25.92%

The mood of general market optimism was dampened somewhat by weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings from food behemoth Kraft Heinz Co. (NYSE: KHC), along with a steep cut in its dividend and news of an accounting investigation involving the company by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. The news also hit conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) hard, as the company, headed by legendary investor Warren Buffett, is a 26% owner of Kraft Heinz. With Kraft Heinz share price down 51% since Sept. 30, 2015, Berkshire’s investment in the food processing giant has fallen by US$11.7 billion.

FUND NEWS

* Connor, Clark launches three new liquid alt mutual funds. Connor, Clark & Lunn Funds Inc. on Feb. 21 debuted three alternative mutual funds:

CC&L Alternative Income Fund is long-short absolute return fixed income strategy that opportunistically invests in a diversified portfolio of of fixed income securities.

CC&L Alternative Canadian Equity Fund combines long exposure to Canadian equities with added-value from a global equity market neutral strategy aiming for a risk profile similar to long-only Canadian equity portfolios.

CC&L Alternative Global Equity Fund combines long exposure to global equities with added-value from a global equity market neutral strategy aiming for a risk profile similar to long-only global equity portfolios.

* Sun Life to rename Infrastructure Fund. Sun Life Global Investments (Canada) Inc. said on Feb. 20 it is seeking unitholder approval to change the name and mandate of the Sun Life Infrastructure Fund. If approved, the fund will, effective May 31, be renamed the Sun Life Real Assets Fund, and will change to a multi-manager structure, with the aim of investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of global securities.

* Franklin Templeton expands LibertyShares lineup with regional offerings. Franklin Templeton announced on Feb. 20 the expansion of its Franklin LibertyShares ETF offerings with a suite of five new passive regional or country ETFs.

Franklin FTSE Canada All Cap Index ETF (TSX: FLCD) tracks the FTSE Canada All Cap Domestic Index.

Franklin FTSE U.S. Index ETF (TSX: FLAM) tracks the FTSE USA Index.

Franklin FTSE Japan Index ETF (TSX: FLJA) tracks the FTSE Japan Index.

Franklin FTSE Europe ex U.K. Index ETF (TSX: FLUR) tracks the FTSE Developed Europe ex U.K. Index.

* Middlefield converts closed-end funds to ETFs. Middlefield Group announced on Feb. 19 the launch of its exchange-traded fund platform with the debut of its Middlefield Healthcare & Life Sciences ETF (TSX: LS) and Middlefield REIT INDEXPLUS ETF (TSX: IDR) trading as ETFs. Both formerly traded as closed-end funds.

Check Fund Library’s Market Activity page regularly for active updates on key market indexes and commodities.

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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.