The Canadian Vanguard Stock Market Report At Market Close – Thursday August 1, 2024
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Your Data-Driven Stock Market Analysis
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The Toronto Market
Today was a day of big declines at the major North American markets. The TSX sank 387.60 points or -1.68% to close today’s market session at 22,723.21.
The market literally reversed the gains made yesterday. The market mood was bearish as only two of the ten major sectors ended the session in green: Telecommunications Services was up 0.70%, while Utilities was up 0.25%. Durable Goods & Services declined -0.60%, while Discretionary Goods & Services declined -0.61%. Healthcare was down -0.91%; Financials was down -1.47%; Industrials was down -1.66% and Energy declined -1.80%. Basic Materials which normally prevails on most bearish days, declined -2.69% and Technology sector suffered a bruising -3.50% loss.
In the Industry groups, Office Equipment was up 4.34%; Entertainment & Production gained 2.22%; Medical Equipment, Supplies & Distribution was up 1.98% while Environment Services gained 1.64% and Beverages – Non-Alcoholic was up 1.55%.
Today’s Statistics: Today, the declined issues (Decliners) totally outnumbered the gaining issues (Advancers). The ratio of Decliners to Advancers was 2.44-to-1.0 or just about five Decliners for every two Advancers. In real numbers, 1,028 Decliners to 421 Advancers with 92 Unchanged. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 63,497,501 or 16.8%, the total volume for declined stocks was 294,903,365 or 78.2% and 18,863,766 or 5.0% for “Unchanged”.
Today, there were 165 new 52-Week Highs and 15 new 52-Week Lows.
The total volume of shares traded at the TSX today was 377,264,632 compared to 249,841,868 yesterday. The volume today was 1.51% higher than the volume at yesterday’s market session and 1.30% of the average of the ten most recent market sessions.
The US Markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined -494.82 points or -1.21% to close the market session at 40.347.97. The S&P 500 dropped -75.62 points, or -1.37%, to close at 5,446.68. The Nasdaq Composite dived -405.26 points or -2.30%, to close at 17,194.15.
Only four of the major US sectors ended today’s session with gains. Utilities gained 1.39%; Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services 1.02%; Healthcare was up 0.73% and Telecommunications Services gained 0.67%. Investors clearly rushed for safety. The four sectors which gained today are the traditional safe haven sectors. Utilities was up 1.39%; Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services was up 1.02%; Healthcare gained 0.73% and Telecommunications Services was up 0.67%. Basic Materials was down -1.68%; Industrials sector was down -1.93%; Financials was down -1.98%; Energy declined -2.16%; while Technology was down -2.49% and Durable Consumer Goods and Services declined -2.49%.
In the Industry groups, Retail – Drugs was up 1.85%; Personal Products was up 1.81%; Tobacco was up 1.66% while REIT – Residential & Commercial was up 1.64% and Utilities – Electric was up 1.63%.
Today’s Market Statistics: Today, the declined issues (Decliners) outnumbered the gaining issues (Advancers) on the NYSE.
On the NASDAQ, the Decliners prevailed over the Advancers by a ratio of 3.2 to-1 or roughly for every sixteen Decliners there were five Advancers. In real numbers, 3,282 Decliners to 1,024 Advancers with 263 Unchanged. The total volume of volume-gaining stocks was 3,621,507,315 or 67.0%; the total volume of declined-volume stocks was 1,756,606,895 or 32.5% and 25,098,385 or 0.5% for “Unchanged”.
Today, there were 111 new 52-Week Highs and 185 new 52-Week Lows. Yesterday, there were 162 new 52-Week Highs and 89 new 52-Week Lows.
The total volume of stocks traded at the NASDAQ today was 6,422,654,817 compared to yesterday’s 4,981,271,028. Today’s volume was 1.23% the volume yesterday, one fifth larger. Today’s volume was 8% higher than the average volume of the last ten market sessions.
10 –year Treasury Yield: The 10-year Treasury yield went down to 3.95% dropping below the 4% for the first time since February.
The Market Roundup: The culprit for the markets’ decline today was the current economic data which brought to light the possibility of the economy heading in to a recession. The other aspect of today’s market is that all the major markets declined while the volume was up across the board which is an indicator that investors may be dumping stock while possibly heading for the exit. Investors would normally prefer that the 10-year yield is below 4%. When the 10-year yield is higher than 4%, investors would rather invest in bonds which get the same or better returns than the stock market but with much less risk.
This market changes directions every session. It would be smart to treat this market with a good amount of suspicion – “Not To Be Trusted”. Investors should wait to see how the market performs during the next few sessions before making any new investment. It is good to buy low so one can sell high but buying low in a seesaw market may amount to catching a falling knife.
It appears the Feds should have done one quarter point interest rate reduction on Wednesday. The economy may not be as robust as it looks on the surface.
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Stocks In The News/Stocks To Watch
The US Markets
The market today, was not only negative, it was downright harsh as most stocks suffered big declines. The rotation away from Tech stocks continues. The investors are not only rotating to small Caps but also to other sectors. Mckesson Corp (MCK) is a stock worth keeping an eye on. MCK belongs to the healthcare sector.
Chips manufacturers’ stocks suffered heavy declines today. Arms Holdings PLC (ARM) declined 16% with 31.2M shares traded. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) declined 8.26%. NVIDIA (NVDA) Corp declined 6.67%.
Tesla manufactures Electric Vehicles but the company is categorized as a Technology stock rather than an Auto Manufacturer. The stock also carries a heavy weight within the Technology sector. Tesla was up sharply on Wednesday but gave up the gains declining 6.55% today.
Regular Market Day Features
Beginner Investor’s (Canadian stocks) Watchlist
The Canadian Vanguard Chinese Stocks Watchlist
EV, Energy and Resource Stocks Watchlist
Today was a harsh market day as most stocks suffered sizable decline.
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