The last trading week of the 3rd-quarter began on Monday, September 24th with the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 indexes at all-time highs while crude oil was pushing up against a 4-year high.
Barrick Gold ‘ABX-T’ and Randgold Resources ‘GOLD-N’ announced an all-stock 2/3rd – 1/3rd merger of $6-billion of assets to form the world’s largest gold producer with an annual production of some 6.5-million ounces of gold.
In an effort to improve efficiencies – Walmart Inc. ‘WMT-N’ has informed a number of its fresh produce suppliers to keep track of shipments by using real time blockchain technology developed by International Business Machines ‘IBM-N’.
DHX Media ‘DHX-T’ shares’ fell by over 9% to $1.36 after the children’s media company failed to impress investors with its 4th-quarter financials and worse yet – eliminated its quarterly dividend.
And much like the International House of Pancakes became IHOP – Weight Watchers International ‘WTW-N’ is shortening its name to WW in an effort to move away from dieting and to better reflect its overall dietary image.
Tuesday, September 25th had clothier Michael Kors ‘KORS-N’ announce it was buying Italian based fashion house Versace in an all-cash deal of some US$2.12-billion.
Sportswear company Nike Inc. ‘NKE-N’ reported a 15% increase in 1st-quarter revenue to US$1.09-billion.
Aurora Cannabis ‘ACB-T’ shares’ fell by 4.5% to $12.19 after the marijuana producer did not meet the streets’ expectations with its 4th-quarer financials.
Wednesday, September 26th had the U.S. Fed do as expected and raised its key interest rate by another 0.25% to a new target range to 2.00% – 2.25%.
AltaGas Ltd. ‘ALA-T’ continued its expansion into Northeastern British Columbia by purchasing a 50% interest in some of Black Swan Energy’s natural gas processing plants in the area an all-cash deal of some $230-million.
Cenovus Energy ‘CVE-T’ announced a new 3-year crude by rail agreement that will see one of Canada’s largest oilsands producers ship an additional 100,000 barrels-of-oil-per-day by rail to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The price of Canada Goose ‘GOOS-T’ shares’ rose by almost 11% to $83.23 after a brokerage firm recommended the high end outer wear company as a buy.
Thursday, September 27th had the U.S. Commerce Department report that country’s merchandize-trade deficit grew in August to a 6-month high US$75.8-billion.
Cameco Corp. ‘CCO-T’ shares’ surged up by almost 16% to $14.80 after a 7-year court battle with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) over the taxation of European subsidiaries went in uranium producers’ favour.
Conversely, the price of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. ‘BBBY-N’ stock plunged by 21% to US$14.86 after the retailer disappointed investors with its 2nd-quarter financials.
Friday, September 28th began with Statistics Canada reporting that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew in July by a better than expected 0.25%.
Petroleum industry analyst Baker Hughes ‘BHGE-N’ reported that the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 1-rig last week to 1,054 active drilling rigs. Across the line – the number of active Canadian drilling rigs fell by 19-rigs to 178 active drilling rigs.
Tesla Inc. ‘TSLA-Q’ shares’ plunged by almost 14% to US$264.77 after the SEC forces founder and visionary Elon Musk to step down as chairman of the premier electric auto company
The price of BlackBerry Ltd. ‘BB-T’ stock surged up by almost 10% to $14.62 after the former cellphone and now security software company impressed investors with its 2nd-quarter financials.
Facebook Inc. ‘FB-Q’ share price fell by over 4% to US$164.46 after the social media company reported yet another security breach affecting some 50-million users.
During the week – natural gas rose to a new 8-month high of US$3.06/mmcf.
Bank of Montreal ‘BMO-T’ at $108.32, Husky Energy ‘HSE-T’ at $22.82 and Wall Financial Group ‘WFC-T’ at $29.20 all reached new TSX 52-week trading highs, while BCE Inc. ‘BCE-T’ at $51.81, Roots Corp. ‘ROOT-T’ at $6.24 and Trican Well Service ‘TCW-T’ at $2.22 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.
For the Week – the Dow Industrials fell by 1.07% to 26,458, with the S&P 500 off by 0.55% to 2,914 while the NASDAQ rose by 0.74% to 8,046. Up north – the TSX Composite dropped by 0.93% to 16,073 and the TSX Venture lost 1.53% to 709.
With Commodities – gold bullion dropped by 0.42% to US$1,196, with copper down by 1.75% to US$2.81, while crude oil rose by 4.23% to US$73.25 and natural gas gained 1.35% to US$3.01. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodity Index improved by 0.24% to finish the week at 415.
The Canadian dollar improved by 0.06% against its southern counterpart to end the week at US$0.7747.
And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX rose by 0.44-point to finish the week at a slightly more nervous level of 12.12.
And Finally – A recent National Bank survey has found that TSX companies that are controlled by family interests returned 206% in the past 13-years while the TSX composite Index returned only 133% over the same time period.
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