On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
Most stocks were down. Notable exceptions included: Couche-Tard – up 4.3%, Dollarama -up 2.5%, Apple – up 2.6%, Amazon – up 1.8% and lululemon up 2.6%.
Markets have of course risen a lot lately. They are pricing in a lot of optmisim about the economy reopening and the virus situation continuing to improve. Any bad news in those areas could send markets lower.
Markets are also expecting low interest rates to remain with us. And the FED today confirmed that they also expect rates to stay low possibly through 2022.
The latest rail car loading reports were out today. U.S. car loading did rebound upwards but that was mostly because the prior week had the Memorial Day holiday. But there is a modest upward trend in the graph. Car loads remain well below 2019 levels but are moving slowly higher. In Canada, the graph is not yet showing any sign of recovery but has at least bottomed out. Petroelum car loads continue to drop while intermodal (consumer goods) carlkoads are starting to climb somewhat. Motor vechicles and parts have turned up very sharply. That is also the case in the U.S. and is a very good sign.