John Zechner Archives - Page 15 of 15

Summary

The stock market in Canada rose again in October, up 2.7%, as the rally since late August continued on optimism about earnings and continued easy monetary policy.
The Canadian bond market returned 0.2% last month as longer-term bond yields went up by around 10 basis points on higher expectations about growth and inflation.
Commodity markets were strong again last month with the CRB Commodities index rising 4.8%, driven higher by economically-sensitive materials such as lumber, silver, zinc, natural gas and uranium.
The Economic data remained positive, though not robust. Growth in North America and Europe slipped back into the 2.0-2.5% annual range in the third quarter, enough to support corporate profit growth but not enough to generate strong employment gains.
In terms of stock sectors, Information Technology lead the charge with a 10.8% monthly gain as Research in Motion bounced back. Basic Materials (excluding gold) were also strong as iron ore, coal, paper and fertilizer prices remained strong.
Our Stock Market Outlook has become somewhat more conservative in the short-term following sharp gains over the past two months and somewhat lofty expectations for more help from the US Federal Reserve in terms of ‘easy money’. We are still bullish over the medium-term (up to 5 years) as economic growth is recovering, profits continue to improve, interest rates remain low and stock valuations are reasonable. (more…)