Daily Wrap-up: Markets mixed on Trump, Fed uncertainty

Markets mixed on Trump, Fed uncertainty
Equity markets were mixed Thursday as Trump policies and no clear steer on US interest rates affected confidence.

The main index of the TSX closed flat as half of the sector groups gained including health care and materials; the latter boosted by increased demand for gold as a safe haven. The sectors losing out included telecoms and IT.

Wall Street also ended the session essentially flat ahead of Friday’s jobs report. European indexes were mixed with London among the strongest performers following Mark Carney’s announcement of a hold-steady for interest rates. Asian markets had ended their session lower.
 
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 3.28 (0.02 per cent)
The Dow Jones down 6.03 (0.03 per cent)
Oil is trending lower (Brent $56.75, WTI $53.71 at 4.35pm)
Gold is trending higher (1218.10 at 4.35pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7680
 
Trump wants NAFTA talks to start soon
President Trump says he wants to start the renegotiation of the trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico to be concluded as soon as possible.

He told US lawmakers Thursday that he’d like to speed things up and said that he thinks the NAFTA has been a “catastrophe” for the US and he wants to make it “fair.”

The president said that he doesn’t care if that means renegotiation of the existing deal or a whole new one.
 
Housing sales slump for Vancouver
Sales of homes in Vancouver slumped 40 per cent year-over-year in January with the sharpest fall for detached houses.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says that there were just 1,500 sales through its MLS system with an 11 per cent dip from the 1,700 sold in December and 39.5 per cent from January 2015.

Townhomes and condos managed to hold their prices but detached homes suffered a 6.6 per cent drop in the previous 6 months to a benchmark of around  $1.5 million.