Bourstad stock market simulations - Summary of the markets for the week ended on December 6, 2024

Stocks, bonds and crypto-currencies on the rise

Over the course of the week, equities, bonds and especially crypto-currencies finished higher. In Canada, we noted that despite the creation of 51,000 jobs in November, the unemployment rate climbed 0.3% to 6.8%. In addition, Canada's labour productivity measure for the third quarter showed a decline of -0.4%. In the US, 227,000 jobs were created in November, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.1% to 4.2%. In addition, the Purchasing Managers' Index for the manufacturing sector fell by almost 4 points in November, from 56.0 to 52.1, while the economists' consensus was for a slight decline of -0.5 points. Over the coming week, we'll be watching: in Canada, the Bank of Canada's key rate decision (Wednesday), October building permits (Thursday) and October manufacturing sales (Friday); in the U.S., November inflation (Wednesday) and the November industrial price index (Thursday). We'll be keeping a close eye on the financial markets' reaction to the fall of the Al-Assad regime in Syria.

The six stock markets we follow ended the week up. The NASDAQ 100, the US technology stock market, posted the biggest gain, up 3.3%. The recently battered Paris Bourse jumped 2.7%, but this is the only stock market among those we follow to decline from its starting level in 2024. The Asian bourses, Tokyo and Shanghai, are both up 2.3%. The New York Stock Exchange gained 1.0%, while the Toronto Stock Exchange advanced 0.2%; since the start of 2024, the Canadian stock market is up 22.6%.

Yields on 10-year government bonds are falling for two of the four top-rated countries we track, while Japanese bond yields are unchanged. Lower yields mean higher bond prices, given the inverse relationship between yields and bond prices. The U.S. bond yield, the main benchmark rate on the market, falls slightly by -1 bps (1 basis point or bps = 0.01%) to 4.17%. The Canadian bond rate fell by -13 bps, leaving the Canadian rate 118 bps below the US rate. Germany's bond yield rose by 2 bps to 2.11%.

In the commodities market, two of the four commodities we track are up. The rising commodities were corn and copper, which gained 1.6% and 1.4% respectively. Gold is down -0.4%, but remains the commodity that has appreciated the most in 2024, up 27.7% to date. Oil ended the week down -1.2%.

In the crypto-currency sector, the two stocks we follow are both up sharply: bitcoin by 4.3% and ethereum by 12.1%. Since the beginning of November, the average rise in the two crypto-currencies we track has been 53%.

As of December 6, it costs 1.5¢ CAD more to buy one US dollar than it did on November 29. The euro and yen are also moving down against Uncle Sam's dollar, but much more slightly: the European single currency by -0.1% and the Japanese currency by -0.2%.

See the detailed table by following this link:

https://iclf.ca/DL/BTTT_sommaire_marches_241206.pdf

Paul Bourget
Project Director, Bourstad
CIRANO
paul.bourget@cirano.qc.ca

About CIRANO (www.cirano.qc.ca )

The Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO) is a multidisciplinary, liaison and transfer research center, whose mission is to accelerate the transfer of knowledge between the research community and users in industry and public services.

About BOURSTAD (www.bourstad.ca )

The Bourstad program is an activity of the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO) which receives support from many partners for this financial education project: the Autorité des marchés financiers, its main partner, TD Bank, CFA Montreal , the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), Les Affaires, Finance Montreal, TMX Group, Hyprasoft, Groupe Investissement responsable and QuoteMedia.