Canadian economy coming to life: Nasdaq analyst

The Canadian economy is starting to show signs of life, says Prab Sagoo, associate director at Nasdaq Advisory Services, in his weekly market commentary. Along with positive manufacturing data, he notes, there has been a strong bounce in domestic retail sales.

Read:

But, he warns, the TSX officially ended last week in technically overbought territory—this was partially due to some stabilization of commodities sectors. Currently, nearly a quarter of the index’s constituents are overbought, he says, with more than 80% trading higher than their 50-day moving averages.

More highlights

Data this week shows Canadian investors sold record amounts of international equities in January. But, they continued to add to holdings in emerging markets.
Domestic market volumes were elevated on Friday due to the expiration of options and futures contracts, and a rebalancing of the TSX indices simultaneously taking place.
This coming week the domestic calendar is relatively light, but all eyes will be fixated on the federal budget announcement. Investors will be closely watching to see what form the fiscal stimulus plan promised by the Liberals takes.

For more on the federal budget, read:

Taxpayers will hold the bag for Liberal stimulus, says opposition

A look at outstanding Liberal campaign promises

Will Morneau follow Paul Martin’s playbook?

Experts size up the federal deficit