The Canadian Vanguard Stock Market Report At Market Close – Thursday, October 31, 2024
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The Toronto Market
The TSX composite index, at market close today, declined -350.76 points or -1.43% to settle at 24,156.87. It was a day of major decline accompanied by significant volume increase. The volume today was up 48% compared to the volume of shares traded yesterday. Sellers prevailed.
The Market Spread: The market breadth remains narrow, continuing the trend from four previous market sessions. Only two of the major sectors gained at the market session today. Healthcare, up 0.69%, and Utilities, up a paltry 0.01% were the only two sectors to gain at the market session. Telecommunications Services was down -0.46%; Energy was down -0.78%; Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services was down -1.23% – giving back yesterday’s gain; Financials was down -1.44%; Basic Materials was down -2.41% and Technology was down -2.55%. A sector comprises a number of companies, though not equally weighted, so when a sector declines 2% or more, that typically is very often a bearish sign for that sector. It was quite a bearish market session.
Industry Groups: Coal was up 7.79%; Semiconductors was up 4.16%; Paper Products was up 3.24%; Pharmaceuticals – Diversified was up 2.79% and Office Equipment was up 1.86%.
Today’s Statistics: Today, the declined issues (Decliners) totally outnumbered the gaining issues (Advancers), there were three Decliners for every Advancer or a ratio of 2.95-to-1.0. In real numbers, there were 1,465 Decliners and 496 Advancers while 125 stocks remained Unchanged.
The total volume of shares traded at the TSX today was 441,370,061 or 48% higher than the volume of 297,625,572 shares traded yesterday.
Today, there were 41 new 52-Week Highs and 43 new 52-Week Lows. By comparison, there were 139 new 52-Week Highs and 26 new 52-Week Lows yesterday.
The US Markets
Today was a red letter day at the markets. Each of the three indexes suffered heavy decline – a really bearish market day. Dow Index was the best performer declining -0.90% while NASDAQ crashed -2.76%. It was an ugly day, indeed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down -378.08 points or -0.22%, to close the market session at 41,763.46. The S&P 500 index declined, -108.22 points, or -1.86%, to close at 5,705.45. The Nasdaq Composite was down -512.78 points or -2.756%, to close the session at 18,095.15.
The Market Spread: The market performance continued to lack breadth. Utilities gained 0.73%; Telecommunications Services gained 0.46% as investors probably looked for a safe haven amid the carnage today. Energy gained 0.24% making it three sectors to gain at the market today. Healthcare was down a heavy -1.02%; Financials was down -1.38%; Discretionary Consumer Goods and Services was down -1.42%; Basic Materials was down -1.61% and Technology was down a portfolio damaging -3.01%.
Industry Groups: Marine Transportation was up 3.91%; Paper Packaging was up 3.90%; Coal was up 2.61%; Tobacco was up 2.42% and Diversified Trading & Distributing was up 2.42%. When Coal and Tobacco show up in the list of top gaining industries at a market session, then you know that the “real players” were not buying but most likely selling or simply “left town” at that market session.
Today’s Market Statistics: At the NYSE, the declined issues (Decliners) outnumbered the gaining issues (Advancers). There were five Decliners for every two Advancers or a ratio of 2.65 to 1.0. It was a lopsidedly bearish market session. In actual numbers, there were 2,889 Decliners to 1,088 Advancers with 327 Unchanged.
Today, there were 106 new 52-Week Highs and 97 new 52-Week Lows – practically as many new Highs as there were new lows. By comparison, yesterday there were 210 new 52-Week Highs and 52 new 52-Week Lows.
The total volume of stocks traded at the NYSE today was 1,250,091,499 or about 27% more than the total volume of 983,323,940 stocks traded yesterday. There was heavy selling today.
On the NASDAQ, the Decliners totally outnumbered the Advancers. For every three Decliners there was one Advancer or a ratio of 3.04 to 1.0. In actual numbers, 3,244 Decliners to 1,067 Advancers with 247 Unchanged.
Today, there were 75 new 52-Week Highs and 175 new 52-Week Lows. By comparison, yesterday there were 158 new 52-Week Highs but 111 new 52-Week Lows. The NASDAQ was more bearish today than at yesterday’s market.
The total volume of stocks traded at the NASDAQ today was 6,609,675,958, or about 2% decrease compared to the total volume of 6,753,955,981 shares traded yesterday.
Oil Price: Oil price rose and was at $70.68 a barrel as at the time of this post. Oil price was up more than a dollar on reports that Iran was preparing to strike at Israel.
10 –year Treasury Yield: The US 10-year Treasury yield closed at 4.282%, up from Wednesday’s close of 4.264%. The five-year yield closed at 4.153%, up from 4.123%. The 10-year yield was at 4.269% as the time of this post.
Market Roundup Report: Yesterday, we wrote that this market cannot be trusted. Today the bears bared their teeth. As mentioned above, when Coal and Tobacco show up in the list of top gaining industries at a market session, then one knows that the “real players” were not buying but most likely selling or simply “left town”. No circumstance is permanent at the stock markets, so those who “left town” will soon be back. To survive a market down trend, we would strongly suggest our readers borrow the advice of the late Bill O’Neal, founder of IBD. He always said, “Do not marry your stocks, simply date them”. Humans may not like the idea but stocks are not humans. Stick with your stocks only when the going is good and get out when the value on the purchase declines between 7 and 8%. It is harder to recover when the loss exceeds 8% – this is backed by a combination of very simple mathematics and good business reasoning.
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Regular Market Day Features
Beginner Investor’s (Canadian stocks) Watchlist
The markets were bearish today but that is part of stock market investing. No circumstance is permanent at the stock market. It is normal for the markets to correct sometimes.
Blended Growth Stocks Watchlist
EV, Energy and Resource Stocks Watchlist
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