Campaign keeps markets flat
The Canadian Press - Oct 23, 2020 - Business Buzz

File photo: The Canadian Press

North American stock markets ended a second flat week of trading Friday as investors held back ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 24.72 points to 16,304.08. That marked the ninth time in 10 trading sessions with movement of less than 100 points.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 28.09 points at 28,335.57. The S&P 500 index was up 11.90 points at 3,465.39, while the Nasdaq composite was up 42.28 points at 11,548.28.

“People are sitting on their hands and nobody really wants to commit to anything ahead of the U.S. election,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.

He said the big money is waiting to see what happens because they don’t want a repeat of 2016, when they had to reverse their bets early the morning after Donald Trump surprisingly beat Hillary Clinton.

October has so far been a typically weak month ahead of a presidential election, Cieszynski said.

“It’s not unusual based on past experience and historical results for (the) October ahead of a U.S. election to be choppy,” he said in an interview.

After protracted negotiations that have failed to achieve a deal, investors aren’t expecting a stimulus package until after the election, Cieszynski added.

The Canadian dollar traded for 76.10 cents US compared with 76.09 cents US on Thursday.


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