The new North American trading week began of Monday, July 9^th with investors encouraged that the markets seemed to be putting the negative trade rhetoric behind and that better markets seemed to be on the horizon.

Under the heading of ‘Going to the Dogs’ – Greyhound Canada sighted reduced ridership in announcing it was ending all bus service in western Canada as of the end of this October.

Probe Metals ‘PRB-T’ shares’ rose by almost 5.5^% to $1.36 after the mineral explorer reported encouraging drill-hole hole gold assays from its flagship New Beliveau project in the Val-d’Or area of Quebec.

Tuesday July 10^th had the U.S. Administration announce a further US$200-billion of potential import trade tariffs on Chinese goods.

Probably more than any other company – Tesla Inc. ‘TSLA-Q’ represents the future, and the future is China, as the world’s premier electric vehicle manufacturer announced it was building its first out of the U.S auto plant in Shanghai, China.

Toronto Dominion Bank ‘TD-T’ announced it was taking over Regina based wealth management firm Greystone Management in a cash & stock deal of some $792-million to make TD Canada’s largest money manager.

Canada’s largest marijuana company Canopy Growth Corp. ‘WEED-T’ announced it was acquiring fellow grower Hiku Brands ‘HIKU-L’ in an all-share deal of some $269.2-million.

The price of Alimentation Couche-Tard ‘ATD.B-T’ rose by over 6.6^% to $60.80 after the giant corner store retailer reported better than expected 4^th-quarter financials.

SilverCreat Metals ‘SIL-T’ shares’ surged up by over 12.5^% to $3,31 after the mineral explorer reported encouraging drill hole gold assays from its Las Chispas property in Mexico.

The Bank of Canada did what was expected on Wednesday, July 11^th and raised the central banks key lending rate by 0.25^% to 1.50^%.

Just one day after renaming Bombardier’s ‘BBD.B-T’ CSeries 100 aircraft to Airbus A220 – the giant European aircraft company announced the sale of 60 of the fuel-efficient jets to Jetblue Airways.

B2Gold ‘BTO-T’ reported a 7^% increase in 2^nd-quarter gold production to 240,000 ounces.

The price of Capstone Mining ‘C-T’ fell by 4^% to $0.95 as 2^nd quarter copper recoveries weighed on the copper producer’s market.

Thursday, July 12^th saw Aritzia Inc. ‘ATZ-T’ shares’ rise by over 10.5^% to &17.79 after the Canadian based clothier beat the street’s expectations with its 1^st-quarter financials.

Asanko Gold ‘AKG-T’ stock rose by 7^% to $1.51 after the junior miner reported better than expected 2^nd-quarter financials.

The price of Broadcom Inc. ‘AVGO-Q’ plunged by almost 14^% to US$209.98 after the semiconductor company announce it was buying information solutions company CA Technologies ‘CA-Q’ in an all-cash deal of some US$18.9-billion.

China announced on Friday, July 13^th that their 2^nd-quarted economy grew as expected at an annualized rate of 6.7^%.

Hecla Mining ‘HL-N’ reported 2^nd-quarter silver production that was in line with the streets’ expectations.

The markets were somewhat rangebound going into U.S. President Donald Trump’s weekend visits with UK Prime minister Theresa May and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During the Week – the TSX Composite Index and NASDAQ Exchange reached new respective all-time closing highs of 16,567 and 7,826, while the TSX Venture dropped to a 1½ -year low of 725 as copper fell to a new 1-year low of US$2.74-a-pound and gold bullion fell to a 1-year low of US$1,242-an-ounce.

Bonterra Energy ‘BNE-T’ at $12.99, Descartes Systems Group ‘DSG-T’ at $44.83 and Points International ‘PTS-T’ at $23.69 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Imperial Metals ‘III-T’ at $1.75, PrairySky Royalty ‘PSK-T’ at $42.93 and Velan Inc. ‘VLN-T’ at $13.80 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials rose by 2.30^% to 25,019, with the S&P 500 up by 1.49^% to 2,801 and the NASDAQ ahead by 1.80^% to 7,826. In Canada – the TSX Composite gained 1.15^% to 16,561 while the TSX Venture fell by 2.03^% to 725.

With Commodities – gold bullion fell by 1.11^% to US$1,242, with copper off by 1.42^% to US$2.78, as crude oil sank by 5.66^% to US$69.62 and natural gas dropped by 4.20^% to US$2.74. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodities Index fell by 0.46^% to finish the week at 435.

The Canadian dollar lost 0.55^% against the U.S. dollar the end the week at US$0.7601.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index moved lower by 1.18-points to finish the week at a calmer level of 12.19.

And Finally – The slower moving tax man may finally be closing the sales advantage of the faster moving world of e-commerce as the U.S. Supreme Court has recently ruled that states have the right to collect sales taxes on items delivered to their states but sold by out-of-state virtual vendors.