Market week: October surprise

Stock market slump on the week

Despite some upside strength on Friday, the major stock indices slumped badly on week as a whole, as swings between risk-off and risk-on sentiment had investors switching between stocks and bonds through the week. Concerns over whether another rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board would push the U.S. into a recession combined with uncertainties about a U.S./China trade war to unsettle markets, even as strong results from three big U.S. banks kicked off what is expected by many analysts to be a positive third-quarter earnings season. The S&P 500 Composite Index closed with a weekly loss for the third consecutive week, falling 4%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 3.7% on week, despite posting its best single-day advance since late March. Toronto’s S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 3.3% on the week, as financials sold off in response to rising U.S. bond yields and energy stocks plunged as WTI crude oil dropped 3.8% on the week and the spread between Western Canada Select and WTI crude prices widened.

Index	Oct. 12, 2018, close	Day	Week	Year to Date
S&P/TSX Composite	15,414.29	0.6%	-3.34%	-4.90%
S&P 500 Composite	2,767.13	1.4%	-4.10%	3.50%
Nasdaq Composite	7,496.89	2.3%	-3.74%	8.60%
Gold (US$)	$1,221.10	-0.5%	1.12%	-6.74%
Oil (WTI) (US$)	$71.51	0.8%	-3.83%	18.35%

FUND NEWS

* IA Clarington launches active ETF series. iA Clarington announced it is launching active ETF versions of three of its fixed-income funds.

IA Clarington Core Plus Bond Fund (TSX: ICPB), managed by Jeff Sujitno, invests in government bonds, investment grade bonds, and high-yield bonds, as well as other income-producing securities, including asset-backed securities and senior floating rate loans.

IA Clarington Global Bond Fund (TSX: IGLB), sub-advised by PineBridge Investments, invests in fixed-income securities around the world.

IA Clarington Emerging Markets Bond Fund (TSX: IEMB), sub-advised by PineBridge, holds emerging market debt securities.

* Dynamic debuts two Liquid Alternative funds. Dynamic Funds announced it is launching two funds in the new Liquid Alternative category.

Dynamic Alpha Performance II Fund, managed by Noah Blackstein, seeks investment opportunities on both the long and short side of the portfolio aiming for positive returns regardless of the overall direction of the market.

Dynamic Premium Yield PLUS Fund invests directly in U.S. stocks, writing call and/or put options on these securities to generate premium yield. Managed by Damian Hoang, the fund will use alternative investment strategies including the use of leverage, primarily created through the use of derivatives.

* WisdomTree launches bond ETF. Wisdom Tree Asset Management Canada debuted its ONE North American Core Plus Bond ETF (TSX: ONEB), which invests in investment-grade North American corporate and government bonds. The Fund is advised by One Capital Management.

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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.