On the day before Hallowe’en, equities got spooked:
A sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks accelerated on Friday, as investors fretted about whether the industry’s debt-fueled spending spree still justified such high share prices.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index dropped 2.9 percent on the last trading session of the month, while the broader S&P 500 index shed 1.8 percent, the worst one-day showing since June for both.
The makers of computer chips were particularly hard hit. Intel plunged 29.2 percent after the chipmaker reported financial results that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a benchmark for the industry, fell 7.2 percent.
The shares of Amazon, Nvidia and other tech giants also fell.
…
Alphabet this week reported earnings that fell short of investors’ expectations, especially in light of the vast sums it is spending. Google’s parent company suffered its worst day in the stock market on Thursday, with its share price falling 12.6 percent and into negative territory for the year. Alphabet has slid roughly 30 percent since its peak in May, putting the company into a bear market, defined as a loss of 20 percent or more from a recent high. It shed another 1.4 percent on Friday.Alphabet is one of five “hyperscalers” driving the A.I infrastructure build-out. Two of the others — Oracle and Meta — are also in a bear market. Amazon’s earnings report on Thursday sent its shares falling, leaving it up just 4.1 percent for the year. Microsoft is 7.9 percent higher, close to its high for the year.
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As investors have reduced their growth expectations, Treasury yields, which are sensitive to such expectations, have also fallen. The 10-year Treasury yield dipped back below 5 percent this week, having peaked at 5.3 percent earlier in October.
The Great White North was not immune:
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 629 points, or 1.74%, at 35,620.03, the lowest closing level since October 14. For the month, the index was up 1.09% after falling 2.85% in September.
The TSX technology sector Friday fell 3%, with shares of e-commerce company Shopify down 5.7%.
The materials sector was down 4.8% as the price of gold fell 3.5%, hitting a one-year low. The precious metal typically comes under pressure when it appears U.S. interest rates are going to rise, sending investors to yield-paying securities instead of bullion.
Heavily weighted financials shed 1.6% and industrials ended 1.2% lower. Shares of TFI International tumbled 17.2% after the transportation and logistics company’s quarterly results missed estimates.
Just two of the 10 major TSX sectors ended higher, including energy. It rose 1.7% as US crude oil futures settled 2.1% higher at US$104.12 a barrel on the potential for escalation in the Iran war after the US midterm elections.
The five year Canada yield (GOC-5) was down about 2bp today to 3.52%
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
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| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0680 % | 2,769.8 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0680 % | 5,215.9 |
| Floater | 5.60 % | 5.67 % | 24,862 | 14.39 | 2 | -0.0680 % | 3,005.9 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0480 % | 3,615.9 |
| SplitShare | 4.80 % | 5.34 % | 61,955 | 2.41 | 5 | 0.0480 % | 4,318.2 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0480 % | 3,369.2 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.4648 % | 3,049.9 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.74 % | 5.81 % | 49,583 | 14.12 | 32 | 0.4648 % | 3,281.8 |
| FixedReset Disc | 5.78 % | 6.29 % | 81,689 | 13.29 | 25 | -1.2155 % | 3,315.5 |
| Insurance Straight | 5.68 % | 5.78 % | 64,865 | 14.21 | 19 | 0.1392 % | 3,167.3 |
| FloatingReset | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -1.2155 % | 4,048.2 |
| FixedReset Prem | 6.05 % | 5.03 % | 73,854 | 1.94 | 24 | -0.1646 % | 2,609.7 |
| FixedReset Bank Non | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -1.2155 % | 3,389.1 |
| FixedReset Ins Non | 5.64 % | 5.78 % | 46,212 | 13.94 | 13 | -0.4415 % | 3,227.9 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| BN.PR.T | FixedReset Disc | -23.95 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 18.00 Evaluated at bid price : 18.00 Bid-YTW : 8.20 % |
| BN.PR.X | FixedReset Disc | -4.31 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 20.67 Evaluated at bid price : 20.67 Bid-YTW : 6.55 % |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | -2.82 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 20.70 Evaluated at bid price : 20.70 Bid-YTW : 5.89 % |
| GWO.PR.R | Insurance Straight | -2.27 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 20.26 Evaluated at bid price : 20.26 Bid-YTW : 6.00 % |
| BN.PR.R | FixedReset Disc | -1.58 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 22.31 Evaluated at bid price : 23.03 Bid-YTW : 6.29 % |
| IFC.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | -1.57 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 23.71 Evaluated at bid price : 25.10 Bid-YTW : 6.11 % |
| POW.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | -1.56 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 23.70 Evaluated at bid price : 24.01 Bid-YTW : 5.87 % |
| SLF.PR.H | FixedReset Ins Non | -1.25 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 23.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.53 Bid-YTW : 5.78 % |
| PWF.PR.P | FixedReset Disc | -1.13 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 20.91 Evaluated at bid price : 20.91 Bid-YTW : 6.05 % |
| MFC.PR.C | Insurance Straight | 1.13 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 20.52 Evaluated at bid price : 20.52 Bid-YTW : 5.56 % |
| PWF.PR.R | Perpetual-Discount | 1.20 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 23.32 Evaluated at bid price : 23.60 Bid-YTW : 5.85 % |
| PWF.PR.L | Perpetual-Discount | 1.35 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 21.59 Evaluated at bid price : 21.85 Bid-YTW : 5.86 % |
| MFC.PR.B | Insurance Straight | 1.39 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 21.19 Evaluated at bid price : 21.19 Bid-YTW : 5.57 % |
| PWF.PR.S | Perpetual-Discount | 2.72 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 20.80 Evaluated at bid price : 20.80 Bid-YTW : 5.81 % |
| CU.PR.D | Perpetual-Discount | 4.81 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 22.15 Evaluated at bid price : 22.43 Bid-YTW : 5.54 % |
| CU.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | 10.53 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 21.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.00 Bid-YTW : 5.45 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| CU.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | 141,162 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 21.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.00 Bid-YTW : 5.45 % |
| BN.PF.N | FixedReset Disc | 128,900 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 23.08 Evaluated at bid price : 24.79 Bid-YTW : 5.71 % |
| FTS.PR.M | FixedReset Disc | 103,466 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2029-12-01 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.15 Bid-YTW : 5.63 % |
| TD.PF.I | FixedReset Prem | 67,649 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2027-10-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.38 Bid-YTW : 4.75 % |
| TD.PF.A | FixedReset Prem | 39,192 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2029-10-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.15 Bid-YTW : 4.78 % |
| GWO.PF.A | Perpetual-Discount | 27,015 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-10-30 Maturity Price : 24.36 Evaluated at bid price : 24.75 Bid-YTW : 5.81 % |
| There were 10 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| See TMX DataLinx: ‘Last’ != ‘Close’ and the posts linked therein for an idea of why these quotes are so horrible. | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| BN.PR.T | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 18.00 – 23.45 Spot Rate : 5.4500 Average : 2.9411 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.R | Insurance Straight | Quote: 20.26 – 21.90 Spot Rate : 1.6400 Average : 1.1260 YTW SCENARIO |
| BN.PR.X | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 20.67 – 21.67 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.5846 YTW SCENARIO |
| FTS.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 22.24 – 23.50 Spot Rate : 1.2600 Average : 0.8589 YTW SCENARIO |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | Quote: 20.70 – 21.70 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.6026 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.P | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 20.91 – 22.00 Spot Rate : 1.0900 Average : 0.8003 YTW SCENARIO |