Market week: Stock indices rally on the week

Selloff loses steam as stock post monthly gains

* Stock indices rally on the week.
* Horizons closes two ETFs.

* Stock indices rally on the week. The main North American stock indices staged a rally last week, taking some of the steam out of the broad selloff during the past two volatile months. Even as the sinking price of crude oil (down 22.5% in November, for a 16.2% year-to-date loss) weighed on Canada’s energy sector, Toronto’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 1.3% on the week, as weaker third-quarter GDP growth (2.0%) raised hopes that the Bank of Canada would hold off on any further rate increases for now. The index gained 1.1% on the month, but remained down 6.2% for the year to date. In the U.S. hints that the U.S. and China may reach a trade deal at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires helped goose the big stock indices to solid weekly gains. The S&P 500 Composite Index advanced 4.9% on the week, for a 1.8% gain on the month, putting it ahead 3.2% year to date. Likewise, the Nasdaq Composite Index surged 5.6% on the week, putting it just barely into the black for the month, but maintaining its 6.2% year-to-date advance.

Index	Nov. 30, 2018, close	Day	Week	Year to Date	Nov. 2018
S&P/TSX Composite	15,197.82	0.0%	1.25%	-6.24%	1.13%
S&P 500 Composite	2,760.16	0.8%	4.85%	3.24%	1.78%
Nasdaq Composite	7,330.54	0.8%	5.64%	6.19%	0.34%
Gold (US$)	$1,227.50	-0.2%	0.34%	-6.25%	1.03%
Oil (WTI) (US$)	$50.64	-1.6%	0.50%	-16.19%	-22.46%

FUND NEWS

* Horizons closes two ETFs. Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. announced that it will be terminating the Horizons Global Currency Opportunities ETF (TSX: HGC), with $8.5 million in assets, and the Horizons Active Intl Developed Markets Equity ETF (TSX: HADM), with $6.3 million in assets, effective at the close of business on Feb. 14, 2019. The funds are closed to new purchases effective Nov. 30.

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Disclaimer

The foregoing is for general information purposes only and is the opinion of the writer. No guarantee of investment performance is made or implied. It is not intended to provide specific personalized advice including, without limitation, investment, financial, legal, accounting or tax advice.