Never has it felt so good to turn the page on a calendar year; and, arguably, never has the disconnect between the real economy and markets been as glaring as during this COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll go in depth today on the astonishing rally that’s seen the S&P 500 surge almost 67 per cent since bottoming out in late March. For its part, the S&P/TSX Composite Index enters the final trading day of the year less than 400 points from a record after climbing 56 per cent since the March low. We’ll get plenty of insight today on what’s ahead for equities in 2021 and will also reflect on some best and worst investment decisions with Baskin Wealth Management’s Barry Schwartz at 10:10 a.m. ET. Watch out for some special year-end perspective on the markets at BNNBloomberg.ca -- including Andrew McCreath’s view on what’s ahead.
A BLIP ON THE CHART
The memory of crude oil’s plunge into negative territory on April 20 is still vivid, but it truly is a blip on the chart in this wild year that saw OPEC+ leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia engage in short-lived price war before the cartel and its allies wrestled with optimal output levels through the balance of the year. With West Texas Intermediate now hovering just below US$50 per barrel, we’ll be sure to dedicate some time to the outlook for Canada’s energy sector in the new year as the group closes out 2020 at the bottom of the heap of TSX subgroups, down 30.4 per cent year-to-date.
PHILLIPS WATCH
Ontario’s finance minister is back on the ground in the province and apologized profusely and repeatedly when he emerged from customs at Pearson International Airport this morning. He admitted that travelling to the Caribbean was a “dumb, dumb mistake”, shrugged off the uproar over his deceptive tweets by explaining that many politicians pre-record their social media posts, and refused to directly respond to the question of whether he’ll resign. We’ll be watching for any developments from the “tough conversation” that Ontario Premier Doug Ford said awaits Phillips today. Amid a general outcry, interesting to see 36% of respondents to the latest BNNBloomberg.ca poll say they support Ford’s handling of the controversy.
PROGRAMMING NOTE
After some holiday adjustments, our programming schedule is back to usual next week, with all the hosts where you’re accustomed to seeing them at the times you’re used to, starting with Jon on The Open at 8 a.m. ET.
OTHER STORIES
- Bitcoin continues smashing records; it climbed as high as US$29,292.47 in early trading today, and is now up almost 500 per cent since mid-March
- More than four years since the historic vote to break away from the European Union, Brexit truly takes effect Friday when the transition period ends.
- Some minor deal activity in the gambling sector from late yesterday: Winnipeg-based Pollard Banknote announced the acquisition of Compliant Gaming for US$19 million. Compliant is billed as a leader in "electronic pull-tab gaming systems." And it was back at it this morning: Pollard just said it’s buying Next Generation Lotteries for 36 million euros.
- Wajax is also closing out the year with some M&A: it’s buying Tundra Process Solutions for $99.1 million in cash and stock. Wajax said the deal will boost earnings next year by as much as $0.15 per share.
- And Enghouse Systems rounds out the year-end acquisitions. Late yesterday, it announced the purchase of Lisbon-based Altitude Software for $30 million.
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