The new North American trading week began on Monday, May 13^th with the markets looking for an excuse to correct and they found one when the current United States and China trade talks ended without a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies. To which technical analysts’ David Tippin & Ron Meisels commented – “The bull market has now answered any lingering doubts about whether it was going to continue to go straight up. It can’t. it shouldn’t, and it won’t”. (For a complete copy of this report please contact rblake@cgf.com.)

Beijing pushed back on last week’s increase in American tariffs on Chinese imports by announcing China will raise tariffs from 5^% – 25^% on an additional US$60-billion of American imports.

The price of Power Financial ‘PWF-T’ stock fell by 3^% to $30.30 after the Montreal based holding company posted an unexpected drop in 1^st-quarter profits.

WestJet Airlines ‘WJA-T’ shares’ soared up by almost 60^% to $29.61 and the price of Onex Corporation ‘ONEX-T’ rose by 4^% to $78.52 on word that the giant conglomerate would take over Canada’s second largest air carrier in an all-cash and debt deal of some $5-billion.

After dropping for the previous 3-years – the International Energy Agency reported on Tuesday, May 14^th that global energy investment stabilized in 2018 at US$1.85-trillion.

Vodaphone Group ‘VOD-LN’ shares fell by almost 4^% to £1.2684 after the British telco giant announce it was selling its New Zealand consortium and cutting its dividend almost in half in an effort to reduce debt.

Conversely – the price of High Liner Foods ‘HLF-T’ rose by over 2.5^% to $7.42 after the frozen seafood producer cut its quarterly dividend by 2/3rds to $0.05 to offset an unexpected drop in 1^st-quarter revenue.

Wednesday, May 15^th – began with Statistics Canada reporting that – helped by rising gasoline prices – the nations’ inflation rate rose by 0.1^% in April to an annualized 2.0%.

Canadian’s government held pensions are in good shape as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reported its investments gained 8.9^% or $32-billion in fiscal 2019 to a total of $392-billion.

Atlantic Gold ‘AGB-T’ shares’ soared up by almost 38^% to $2.88 after the Nova Scotia based miner agreed to a $802-million cash & stock takeover by Australia’s St. Barbara ‘SBM-A’.

The price of Corus Entertainment ‘CJR.B-T’ plunged by almost 17^% to $6.70 on word that Shaw Communications ‘SJR.B-T’ was selling its interest in the entertainment company it created in 1999.

Statistics Canada reported on Thursday, May 16^th that the country’s manufacturing sales – helped by transportation equipment, petroleum and coal product – rose in March by a better than expected 2.1^% to $58.0-billion.

The world’s largest retailer Walmart Inc. ‘WMT-N’ warned that higher trade tariffs on imports from China will lead to higher prices to American consumers.

IAMGOLD Corporation ‘IMG-T’ shares’ rose by over 9% to $3.50 on word that the Toronto based miner was contemplating putting some or all of its assets up for sale.

And the price of Transat A.T. ‘TRZ-T’ stock soared up by over 9.5^% to $12.00 after the announced it had entered talks with Air Canada ‘AC-T’ to have Canada’s flagship airline take over the Montreal based charter airline for some %520-million.

Friday, May 17^th began with word that the United States and Canada had come to an agreement that would have the Americans remove the tariffs on imported Canadian steel and aluminum that were imposed last year.

Stelco Holdings ‘STLC-T shares’ rose by over 11.5^% to $17.09 as the Hamilton based steel company would benefit from the removal of tariffs.

The price of Deere & Co. ‘DE-N’ stock fell by over 7.5^% to US134.82 after the giant heavy equipment manufacturer sighted increased trade tensions in lowering its forecasts for the rest of 2019.

Canadians made ready to enjoy their Victoria Day long weekend.

During the Week – the VIX rose to a new 4-month high of 20.55.

For the Week – the Dow industrials fell by 0.69^% to 25,764, with the S&P 500 down by 0.76^% to 2,859 and the NASDAQ off by 1.28^% to 7,816. Up north – the TSX Composite rose by 0.64^% to 16,402 and the TSX Venture improved by 1.67^% to 609.

With Commodities – gold bullion lost 0.70^% to US$1,278, with copper down by 1.08^% to US$2.74, while crude oil gained 1.76^% to US$62.89 and natural gas was unchanged at US$2.66. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodity Index rose by 0.98^% to end the week at 414.

The Canadian dollar lost 0.35^% against its American counterpart to finish the week at US$0.7429.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility index or VIX rose by 0.08-point to end the week at a slightly more nervous level of 16.12.

K-Bro Linen ‘KBL-T’ at $40.00, Sienna Senior Living ‘SIA-T’ at $19.02 and Waste Connections ‘WCN-T’ at $127.83 all climbed to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Finning International ‘FTT-T’ at $22.61, Husky Energy ‘HSE-T’ at $13.12 and West Fraser Timber ‘WFT-T’ at $56.60 all dropped to new 52-week trading lows.

And Finally – Authorities are starting to figure out that they can’t keep giving electric car owners a free ride from taxes as they charge up their EVs. According to a national association of state legislatures – 24 American states have now imposed annual special registration fees of up to US$1,000-a-car on EVs to help cover their part of road infrastructure costs that would otherwise be collected in gasoline taxes.