Markets rally to close a choppy week

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After a shaky opening Friday morning, markets on both sides of the border rallied towards the end of the day to close positive. The TSX gained just over 100 points for the week. Mere days after Ottawa announced a monster deficit, good news arrived: Canada added nearly a million jobs in June, pushing the unemployment rate down, as the country began to reopen. Both figures beat the street.

Financials led gains, spiking nearly 2% while energy surged 1.45% as the price of WCS jumped nearly 4% and WTI over 2%. Friday’s biggest gainers included Vermilion Energy and Canopy Growth, both popping 8%. Tech took a breather as Lightspeed sold off 3%.

South of the border, the big news was that Gilead announced positive test results for its anti-COVID drug, Remdesivir. Gilead shares rose 2.16% and encouraged risk-on sentiment. For example, Norwegian Cruiselines jumped 7.89%. The tech trend continued Friday as big tech names such as Alphabet made new record closes. Tesla rocketed 10.78%. The U.S. sunbelt continues to add new virus cases, but the mortality rates continues to decline. The past week of trading has seen this tug-of-war of investor sentiment expressed in choppy trading, but tech stocks remain the clear winners with the Nasdaq rising 4% for the week.

🛢 Vermilion Energy Inc +8%
🌿 Canopy Growth Corp. +8%
💿 Lightspeed POS -3%
💉 Gilead Sciences Inc. +2.16%
🚢 Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings +7.89%
🚗 Tesla Motors Inc +10.78%