Below is a summary of some of the relevant news items from the Capital Markets and the Economy from the past week extracted from RBC Global Insights and FactSet Research.

You can catch up on the past four weeks’ Weekly Update in the link to my Blog.

Read my latest Smart Investor newsletter on my website. The Q1 2025 edition covers Market Review for 2024, a discussion about the main themes for 2025, and some long-term multi-decade trends. Shiuman’s Corner is a list of books I read last year.

 

Markets

Market scorecard as of close on Friday January 24, 2025.

Country	Equity Indices	Level	1 week	YTD
Canada	S&P/TSX Composite	25,468	1.6%	3.0%
U.S.	S&P 500	6,101	1.7%	3.7%
U.S.	NASDAQ	19,954	1.8%	3.3%
Europe/Asia	MSCI EAFE	2,361	3.2%	4.4%

Source: FactSet

• TSX closed higher on Friday, off best levels. Most sectors higher led by materials and consumer discretionary. Canadian equities posted their best weekly performance since November.

• US equities closed lower in Friday trading, but ended off session lows. Followed S&P 500 setting a fresh record close Thursday. Nevertheless, stocks still logged a second straight week of gains with help from strong big tech performance.

• European equities have gained thus far in 2025. The STOXX Europe 600 ex UK Index advanced to its highest level since the end of September 2024, while the EURO STOXX 50 Index is at its highest level since May 2024, hitting an all-time high.

 

Economy

Canada

• Canadian inflation came in largely as expected for December, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) growing 1.8% y/y, below the Bank of Canada’s (BoC) 2% target. However, the data was distorted by the federal government’s GST holiday, which went into effect on Dec. 14 and temporarily eliminates the sales tax on roughly 10% of the CPI basket.

• Canadian business sentiment remains subdued but is showing gradual signs of improvement, according to a BoC survey. Expectations for future sales and capital spending are picking up, thanks in part to lower interest rates.

U.S.

• President Trump, in his first full day in office, discussed—but did not officially move forward on— universal and targeted tariff proposals. In our view, tariff policy is likely to remain fluid and dependent on the outcome of bilateral negotiations on a wide range of topics.

• We expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged at its next policy meeting, a view that is widely shared among economists and consistent with interest rate futures pricing.

Further Afield

• Recent trade data from Japan has raised some concerns that the country could become the next target of U.S. tariffs. Japan’s trade surplus with the U.S. reached JPY8.6 trillion (US$54.9 billion) in 2024, the fifth largest on record.

• China’s securities regulator announced a series of measures aimed at attracting medium- to long-term investment in the onshore equities market. State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play major roles in this initiative.

 

Notes About Companies in Model Portfolio

• Procter & Gamble (PG) posted a 3% rise in organic sales, on a 2% bump in volumes and a 1% benefit from favorable mix for Q2 2025 ending December 31, 2024. However, margins contracted, with the adjusted gross margin down 30 basis points to 52.4%, and the adjusted operating margin off 80 basis points to 26.2%. Net EPS was $1.94 for Q2, compared with $1.44 same period previous year.

 

Feel free to contact me with any questions and/or to discuss investment ideas.

I appreciate the opportunity to serve you and look forward to continuing to help you accomplish your long-term financial goals.

 

Regards,

Shiuman