North America flat, cannabis’ first birthday and the Brexit merry-go-round

Allan Tong Posted On October 17, 2019

American markets closed Thursday modestly up while the TSX finished flat, though materials rose over 1%. Today marks the one-year anniversary of legal pot in Canada, a difficult year, but a new era of edibles begins today. Industry leader Canopy spiked 5.23% on Thursday after making an acquisition in medical mairjuana, but WEED-T is nowhere near its 52-week high of $70.98.

That’s indicative of the cannabis sector as a whole which has plunged over 50% in the past year. Netflix enjoyed better news, rising 2.47% after its latest earnings report showed growth in international subscribers, though (perhaps tellingly) not American. All eyes are on the streaming space as Disney (up 1.15%) counts down to the launch of its streaming service on Nov. 12. In contrast, IBM‘s woes continue with its fifth weak earnings report in a row. The stock fell 5.52%.

The EU and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck a Brexit agreement, but already there are doubts that the House of Commons will pass it. If not, the UK may crash out of the EU on October 31 leading to who-knows-what in the European markets. On the continent, Ericsson offered a glimmer of good news after reporting strong earnings. It climbed 5.23% Thursday.

Canopy Growth Corp. + 5.23%
Netflix Inc. +2.47%
👸 Walt Disney +1.15%
💻 IBM -5.52%
📱 Ericsson LM Telephone +5.23%