The new North American trading week began on Monday, July 23^rd with investors watching in awe as international leaders fire salvoes at each other through social media.

Statistics Canada reported the country’s wholesalers increased their dales by 1.2^% in May to $63.7-billion.

The National Association of Realtors reported that United States existing home sales fell by an unexpected 0.6^% in June to an annualized 5.38-million units.

Barrick Gold ‘ABX-T’ president Kelvin Dushnisky announced he was leaving the world’s largest gold producer to take on a like position with South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti ‘AU-N’.

Country singer icon Willie Nelson announced he was bringing his LivWell Enlightened Health cannabis company north to take over an existing company and begin to trade on a Canadian stock exchange.

Canadian Zinc CZN-V’ received permission from the Federal Minister of the Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs to continue permitting work on their Prairie Creek zinc project in Canada’s North West Territories.

Tuesday, July 24^th saw Alphabet Inc. ‘GOOG-Q’ spark the tech markets after the parent company of search engine giant Google reported yet another quarter of record sales.

PrairieSky Royalty ‘PSK-T’ shares’ fell by almost 7^% to $24.00 after the petroleum producer’s 2^nd quarter financials failed to live up to the street’s expectations.

African based Roxgold Inc. ‘ROXG-T’ announced a 20^% increase in 2^nd-quarter gold production from its Yaramoko mine in Burkina Faso.

Whirlpool Corp. ‘WHR-N’ stock plunged by 14.5^% to US$128.82 after the U.S. based appliance manufacturer sighed increased tariffs effecting its 2^nd-quarter financials.

Toromont Industries ‘TIH-T’ shares’ surged up over 14.5^% to $66.14 on Wednesday, July 25^th after the Eastern Canadian Caterpillar dealer reported better than expected 2^nd-quarter financials.

The price of Calfrac Well Services ‘CFW-T’ stock fell by 5^% to $5.08 after the oilfield service company reported some slowing of field activities.

iRobot Corp. ‘IRBT-Q’ shares’ soared up by 17^% to US$83.29 after the robotics company beat analysts’ expectations with its 2^nd-quarter financials.

And the price of Aimia Inc. ‘AIM-T’ rocketed up by over 35^% to $3.49 after the Aeroplan travel loyalty company received a $2.25-billion cash and debt takeover offer from Air Canada    ‘AC-T’ and others.

Thursday, July 26^th saw giant uranium producer Cameco Inc. ‘CCO-T sight low uranium prices and surplus worldwide inventories in announcing it was curtailing production at its Key Lake and McArthur River uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan.

The price of Facebook Inc. ‘FB-Q’ plunge by 19^% to US$176.26 after the giant social media company’s 2^nd-quarter financials indicated a flattening in growth going forward.

Marathon Gold ‘MOZ-T’ shares’ rose by 3.5% to $0.88 after the mineral developer reported more encouraging gold assays from its flagship Valentine Lake project.

The price of Mullen Group ‘MTL-T’ stock gained almost 7% to $16.42 after the Calgary based tucking company reported better-than-expected 2^nd-quarter revenues.

Friday, July 27^th began with a report that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew in the 2^nd-quarter at a better than expected annualized 4.1^%.

Ina transaction between giants – Britain’s BP PLC ‘BP-N’ announced it will buy Australian BHP Billiton’s ‘BHP-N’ Texas & New Mexico based Permian Basin oil & gas assets in an all-cash deal of some US$10-5-billion.

The price of Aecon Group ‘ARE-T’ stock rose by over 4.5^% to $16.01 after the civil engineering company reported 2^nd-quarter financials that revealed a larger than expected backlog of work.

Twitter Inc. ‘TWTR-Q’ share price plunged by over 20.5^% to US$34.12 after the electronic communication company lowered its 3^rd-quarter growth forecast.

During the Week – the TSX Venture Exchange fell to a new 2-year closing low of 705 while the NASDAQ rose to a new all-time closing high of 7,932.

Energy Fuels ‘EFR-T’ at $3.65, Parkland Fuel ‘PKI-T’ at $35.40 and TFI International ‘TFII-T’ at $43.26 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Artis Real Estate Investment Trust ‘AX-T’ at $12.64, Cobalt 27 Capital ‘KBLT-T’ at $7.41 and New Gold ‘NGD-T’ at $1.64 all dropped to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials rose by 1.57^% to 25,451, with the S&P 500 up by 0.62^% to 2,819 while the NASDAQ fell by 1.06^% to 7,737. Up north – the TSX Composite lost 0.25% to 16,394 and the TSX Venture dropped by 0.70^% to 707.

With Commodities – gold bullion fell by 0.16^% to US$1,233, while copper rose by 1.45^% to US$2.80, as crude oil gained 0.89^% to uS$68.89 and natural gas rose by 1.83^% to US$2.78. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodity Index improved by 0. 23^% to finish the week at 433.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.68^% against its southern cousin to end the week at US$0.7654.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX rose by 0.24-point to finish the week at a slightly more nervous level of 13.10.

And Finally – With an interesting take on gender bias – A recent U.S. Census Bureau survey found that in mixed marriages where the woman made more money than her spouse – the women tend to understate their income by an average of 1.5^% while their husbands tended to overstate their income by an average of some 2.9^%.