The S&P/TSX Total Return Index rose by 0.34% in July, the S&P 500 by 1.44% and the MSCI ACWI ex. USA declined by 1.18%. At July end, the YTD S&P/TSX Total Return Index was up 16.62% which was lower than the S&P500 (20.24%) but higher than the MSCI ACWI ex. USA of 12.65%.
The market met new highs in July before retracing some of that gain as trade disputes dampened and long-term treasury rates fell to historical lows. At month’s end, the US 10-year treasury yield crossed the 2% mark to the low side.
The best TSX sector in July was Consumer Discretionary up 3.4%, followed by Information Technology, up 3.2%. On the contrary, the worst-performing sector was Health Care principally due to the performance of the Cannabis sector.
Looking more specifically at INOC, the best performers in July were Equitable Group (+27.01%), a Canadian bank with the majority of its business involved in residential mortgages with prime and non-prime, who reported better than expected figures for Q2 results. The next best performer was Parex Resources Inc. (+7.38%), an oil producer with assets in Colombia, whose gains were due to the rally in oil prices last month.
On the other hand, the weakest contributor to INOC was Stella Jones (SJ), which was down 12.89%. News in regard to the departure of the company’s long-standing CEO caused the market to react negatively. The other negative contributors were Norbord (OSB) and Linamar (LNR).
