On Friday the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
The great majority of the stocks that I keep a close eye on wee up on the day. This included the rate reset preferred shares.
I have updated my reference article that breaks out Canada’s GDP by segment and shows what Canada imports and exports as well as which countries are important trade partners.
Looking at GDP it turns out that “Real estate and rental and leasing” is the largest contributor to GDP. And this does not include the construction of real estate. For real estate it appears to be primarily the leasing of existing real estate as well as real estate brokerage. This category also includes the rental and leasing of equipment and vehicles. Manufacturing (which includes refineries) is the second largest category followed by “mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction”. While many would (wrongly) argue that all government activities are non-productive, the reality is that various government-dominated sectors including healthcare and education as well as public administration are very important contributors to GDP.
Looking at exports and especially NET exports the contribution of energy – mostly crude oil – is enormous. Talk of replacing oil and gas in Canada’s economy anytime soon is fanciful at best. At least that’s what the figures I see appear to show.
And looking at Canada’s continued enormous dependence on the U.S. as a trade partner is somewhat frightening.