The Canadian Vanguard Stock Market Report At Close – Wednesday, January 31, 2024

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Data Driven Market Analysis And Report For Tomorrow’s Winning Trades

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The Toronto Market

The TSX composite index declined a hefty -205.99 points or -0.97% to close today’s market session at 21,021.88. The market  today was negative or even sour. The TSX gave back the gains of the past four sessions.

                                                                                                                                                         

All ten major sectors declined today. Industrials, down -0.27%, was the top performing sector. Healthcare declined -0.46%; Durable Consumer Goods & Services  was down -0.53%; Telecommunications Services was down -0.83%; Basic Materials was down -0.99%;  Financials was down -1.05%, Energy declined -1.2% and Technology declined -1.82%.

Publishing, up 6.32%, was the top performing industry at the TSX today – a really bearish day. Electrical Components was up 3.19%; Semiconductors was up 2.52%; Entertainment Production was up 2.51%; and Marine Transportation was up 1.79%.

Today’s Statistics: The declined issues (decliners) outnumbered the gaining issues (advancers) today. The ratio was 2.2-to-1.00 or roughly for every eleven decliners there were five advancers, definitely bearish. In real numbers, 1,041 decliners to 475 advancers with 902 Unchanged. The total volume of shares traded for gaining stocks was 64,003,720 or 18.9%; the total volume for declined stocks was 267,060,083 or 78.9% and 7,558,302 or 2.2% for “Unchanged”.

There were 91 new 52-Week Highs and 21 new 52-Week Lows. The ratio of the new 52 Week Highs to the new 52-Week Lows was one of the few positive results at today’s market. One would have to drill deeper in the list of stocks making the 52-Week High today to see if there are any possible gems worthy of further analysis. The market session today was unquestionably broad-based bearish.

The total volume of stocks traded at the TSX today was 338,622,105 compared with 302,737,995 on Monday, a 12% increase. Today’s volume of 338,622,105 is about three per cent higher than the average of the ten most recent market sessions.

 

The US Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined -317.01 points, or -0.82%, to close at 38,150.30. The S&P 500 was down -79.32 points, or -1.61%, to close at 4.845.65. The Nasdaq Composite declined a hefty -345.89 points or -2.23%, to close at 15,164.01.  A two percent decline by an index in a market session is significant.

The Central Bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held interest rates steady at 5.25% to 5.50%, its fourth consecutive pause. The FOMC said that inflation remains “elevated” despite having eased over the last year. In real terms, they are probably telling the market not to expect any lowering of interest rates until later in the year.

Fed’s Chief Powell did not see the Open Market Committee being comfortable enough with the direction of inflation to start easing interest rates by March. We have to wait until later in the year before seeing any reduction in interest rates.

It was a session of broad-based market decline. Healthcare sector, down -0.18%,  had the best performance of all the sectors. Utilities was down -0.40%. Six of the sectors declined below 1%. Basic Materials (sector of miners) declined -1.28%; Financials declined -1.37%; Energy was down -1.75% and Technology was down -2.41%.

Reinsurance, up 1.96%, was the leading industry today. Marine Port Services was up 1.88%; Retail – Drugs gained 1.5% and Managed Health Care was up 1.12% and Medical Equipment, Supplies & Distribution was up 0.74%. It was a different type of day. The companies that normally dominate the gaining stocks declined today. Healthcare that rarely leads,  today dominated the winning industries.

Today’s Market Statistics: Today, the gaining issues (advancers) totally outnumbered the declined issues (decliners) on the NYSE.  Roughly, for every three advancers there was a decliner. In real numbers, there were 3,043 decliners, 1,031 advancers and 257 “Unchanged”. The total volume of volume-gaining stocks was 256,850,717 or 69.8%; the total volume of declined-volume stocks was 1,106,670,321 or 80.1%; and 18,474,770 or 1.3% “Unchanged”.

There were 326 new 52-Week Highs and 56 new 52-Week Lows. That is bullish and of course, one day of bearish performance is not enough to call the rally dead, but it is just one more piece of data that the market is flashing the need for caution by investors.

The total volume of stocks traded at the NYSE today was 1,381,995,808 compared with 905,717,998 yesterday, a 13% increase. Essentially, the volume today returned to what it was on Thursday. Today’s volume of 1,381,995,808 is about   the average of the ten most recent market sessions.

On the NASDAQ, the advancers definitely outnumbered the decliners by a ratio of 2.34-to-1 or roughly for every twenty three advancers there were ten decliners. In real numbers, there were 3,209 decliners to 1,124 advancers with 294 unchanged.   The total volume of volume-gaining stocks was 2,191,421,829 or 36.6%; the total volume of declined-volume stocks was 3,752,439,816 or 62.7% and 40,927,987 or 0.7% for “Unchanged”.

There were 132 new 52-Week Highs and 130 new 52-Week Lows. The Technology big weights suffered declines today.

The total volume of stocks traded at the NASDAQ today was 5,984,789,632 compared with 5,108,258,993 on Monday, a 52% increase. Today’s volume of 5,984,789,632 far exceeds the average of the ten most recent market sessions.

The market outlook remains trade with caution.

Oil and the money markets:   West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 2.6% to $75.76 per barrel today. Commercial crude stockpiles in the US rose by 1.2 million barrels to 421.9 million barrels through last week, according to the Energy Information Administration.

10 –year Treasury Yield:   The US 10-year Treasury yield dropped 13.1 basis points to 3.93% while the US two-year yield plunged 14.2 basis points to 4.22%.

 

Regular Market Day Features

The Canadian Vanguard Beginner Investor’s (Canadian stocks) Watchlist

The Canadian Vanguard Chinese Stocks Watchlist 

EV, Energy and Resource Stocks Watchlist

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