The Canadian Vanguard Stock Market Report – Weekend, Aug 1 – 3, 2025 Edition
Trump’s tariffs hit as employment faltered – but futures are up Sunday evening
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The Toronto Market
The TSX composite index declined -239.35 points or -0.88%, to close the session at 27,020.43. The TSX has now suffered three consecutive sessions of three digit declines. The market’s decline today was quite bearish.
The Market Breadth: The TSX index continued the downtrend from Wednesday. Just like yesterday, only one sector, but this time Utilities, up 0.46%, was the top sector. Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services declined -0.09%, Healthcare declined -0.20%, Basic Materials declined -0.24%, and Durable Consumer Goods & Services declined -0.65%. Industrials declined -0.78%, Financials declined -0.86%, Energy declined -0.95%, and Technology, today’s laggard, declined -2.55%.
Weekly Performance by Sectors: This week, which ended August 2, only two sectors gained. Utilities gained 0.46% and Energy gained 0.33%. Retail stocks sectors put up some effort in a tough week, as reflected by Durable Consumer Goods & Services declined -0.53%, and Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services declined -0.89%. Industrials declined -0.63%. Financials declined -2.09%, Basic Materials declined -2.75% and Telecommunications Services declined -2.86%. Technology, the week’s laggard, declined -3.94%.
Industry Groups: The top five industry groups in the US markets today were: Aerospace & Defense, up 2.80%; Marine Transportation, up 2.40%; Personal Products, up 2.29%; Beverages – Non Alcoholic, up 1.37%; and Pharmaceuticals – Generic & Specialty, up 1.32%.
Today’s Market Statistics
Today, the issues that declined (Decliners) outnumbered those that gained (Advancers). There were two Decliners for every Advancer, or a more exact ratio of 2.24-to-1.0. In real numbers, there were 1,390 Decliners to 621 Advancers while 98 stocks remained Unchanged.
Today, there were 48 new 52-Week Highs and 26 new 52-Week Lows. There were 268 new 52-Week Highs and 24 new 52-Week Lows on Thursday.
The total volume of shares traded at the TSX today was 376,200,766, 7% less than the volume of 403,574,584 shares traded on Thursday.
Market Roundup Report
It is time for investors to be cautious with purchases and to watch out for and be prepared to react as appropriate to abrupt surprises, either positive or negative, from the market. The markets do not like tariffs, and today was another example of the markets’ reaction to tariffs. Late Thursday, President Trump announced a new set of tariffs on a good number of countries. Friday, the TSX index went into a tailspin. The TSX index, however, in spite of the big decline, was still the best performer of the four major North American indexes that we track.
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The US Markets
The Dow Jones Average index declined -542.40 points or -1.23%, to close the session at 43,588.58. The S&P 500 index declined -101.38 points or -1.60% to close at 6,238.01. The Nasdaq Composite declined -472.31 points or -2.24%, to close the session at 20,650.13. In small caps, Russell 2000 declined -44.87 points or -2.03% to close the session at 2166.78. The small caps have now declined five consecutive market sessions, with the decline today even more severe than on any of the previous four market sessions.
The Market Breadth: Three of the eleven S&P 500 sectors gained on Friday. Healthcare, up 0.62%, was the top sector. Durable Consumer Goods & Services gained 0.30% and Telecommunications Services gained a paltry 0.02%. There were some relatively heavy declines: Energy declined -1.41%, Financials declined -1.44%, Industrials declined -1.50%, Technology declined -2.13% and Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services declined -2.76%.
Weekly Performance By Sectors: This week, which ended August 2, was a tough week for the market. Utilities gained 0.91%. Energy declined -1.22%, Technology declined -1.62%, Durable Consumer Goods & Services declined -1.90%, Telecommunications Services declined -2.18%, Financials declined -3.39%, Discretionary Consumer Goods & Services declined -4.22%, and Basic Materials declined -4.96%.
Industry Groups: The top five industry groups in the US markets today were: Homebuilding, up 3.78%; Utilities – Water & Others, up 2.87%; Pharmaceuticals – Diversified, up 1.94%; Home Furnishing, up 1.38%; and Retail – Discount Stores, up 1.28%.
Today’s Market Statistics
At the NYSE, the issues that declined (Decliners) outnumbered the issues that gained (Advancers). There were two Decliners for every Advancer, or a more exact ratio of 2.17-to-1.0. In actual numbers, there were 2,872 Decliners to 1,324 Advancers with 277 Unchanged.
Today, there were 76 new 52-Week Highs and 137 new 52-Week Lows. There were 269 new 52-Week Highs and 117 new 52-Week Lows on Thursday.
The total volume of stocks traded today at the NYSE was 5,890,207,217, or 5% less than the total volume of 6,164,247,773 shares traded on Thursday.
On the NASDAQ, the Decliners outnumbered the Advancers. There were two Decliners for every Advancer, or an exact ratio of 2.04-to-1.0. In actual numbers, there were 3,366 Decliners to 1,266 Advancers with 116 Unchanged.
Today, there were 190 new 52-Week Highs and 161 new 52-Week Lows. There were 131 new 52-Week Highs and 116 new 52-Week Lows on Thursday.
The total volume of shares traded at the NASDAQ today was 9,900,841,806, or 4% less than the total volume of 10,332,498,471 shares traded on Thursday.
Market Roundup Report
Markets do not like uncertainties, and President Trump’s tariff announcements tend to be unpredictable or introduce uncertainties into the economy. The combined effects of the tariffs announced on Thursday and the weak job reports released Friday morning jolted the markets and humbled the current rally.
All three major indexes declined by more than 1.2% with NASDAQ declining 2.2%. That is quite significant, given that S&P 500 and NASDAQ indexes have been hitting new record highs daily for the past several sessions. Friday’s jolt was a sort of reality check as NASDAQ was getting extended.
The market will always do what it wishes to do, but we would not be surprised if gold price shoots up on Monday. Investors should be getting more cautious and less adventurous with trades in the short term. S&P 500 and NASDAQ crossed below the 21-day moving average plots on Friday.
After-hours action: Stock Futures are up late Sunday evening. Dow Futures is up 94 points or 0.22% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures is up 16.25 points or 0.26%, and Nasdaq 100 futures is up 70.75 points or 0.31% as of the time (9:30 pm ET, Sunday) of this post update.
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Stocks In The News /Stocks To Watch
The US Markets
AngloGold Ashanti (AU) is a stock to keep an eye on as long as President Trump continues the tariff impositions. When investors see market uncertainties, they tend seek refuge in gold miner stocks and gold itself. AU stock was up 5.41% or $2.50 and closed at $48.75 with 4.3M shares traded. The company said on Friday that earnings rose on higher production and gold prices, and backed its full-year guidance. It is a stock worth keeping an eye on, especially if tariff-driven market uncertainties persist. Gold miner stocks tend to return to normal when uncertainties are minimal.
Nvidia Corp (NVDA) declined Friday, -2.33% or $4.15, closing at $173.72 with 204.5M shares traded. NVDA stock closed at $113.54 on May 5. That is a decent profit in three months. If the market continues the recent downtrend, of course it will be smart to convert the paper profit into bankable money. Is Nvidia a sell? We say No, not yet. Should you buy NVDA stock now? The stock is certainly not extended and is not a stock with a high daily volatility, or what is sometimes referred to as Average True Range (ATR). We will keep an eye on NVDA stock for our readers. The stock may likely go through some consolidation before the next leg up.
Other stocks to keep an eye on are Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Earnings This Week:
The earnings season is still around. Below are some stocks reporting this week and worth keeping an eye on.
| Date | Ticker | Period
Being Reported |
Actual/
Estimate |
Previous
Year |
| August 4 | HIMS | Q2, 2025 | $0.15(E) | $0.06 |
| August 4 | PLTR | Q2, 2025 | $0.14(E) | $0.09 |
| August 5 | AMD | Q2, 2025 | ||
| August 5 | ANET | Q2.2025 | ||
| August 6 | APP | Q2, 2025 | $2.03(E) | $0.89 |
| August 6 | SHOP | Q2, 2025 |
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NOTICE TO READERS
Our readers are strongly advised to conduct their research into individual stocks before making a purchase decision. In addition, investors are advised that past stock performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation. Any recommendation is not a guarantee of any particular stock’s future prices, and The Canadian Vanguard accepts no responsibility or liability for investors’ or readers’ purchases.
The Canadian Vanguard’s Stock Market Reports, https://www.thecanadianvanguard.com/category/stock-markets/ are composed by senior Financial Industry and Information Technology professionals. We deliberately neither engage nor deploy AI tools to produce these reports.
