Equity markets had a strong positive monthly performance in November. In Canada the performance was particularly strong among Energy and Health Care (cannabis) stocks. In the U.S., the performance was notoriously strong among Energy and Financials stocks. Two of the key drivers behind the performance of this rally were the sucessful results achieved by Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials for their Covid vaccine.
In November, the S&P/TSX rose by 10.6%, the S&P 500 increased by 10.9% while the MSCI ACWI ex USA gained 13.5%. At November end and over a 12-month period, the S&P/TSX returned 4.3% behind the S&P 500 gain of 17.5% and the MSCI ACWI ex. USA increased by 10%.
NQICAT advanced by 7.6% in November and posted a 12-month return of -1.1%.
The best S&P/TSX sectors for the month were Health Care up 35% followed by Energy up 18.6% and Consumer Discretionary up 16.3%. The worst performing sectors were Materials down 4.8%, Consumer Staples up 2.6% and Utilities up 5.4%.
NQICAT’s best performers in November were Parkland up 22.2% and TD up 19.7%. On the opposite, the weakest contributors were Kirkland Lake Gold down 8.5% and Metro down 3.6% mainly because of sector rotation out of defensive/Covid related stocks.
