By Angela Harmantas
The Chinese stock market regained some of its losses on Thursday morning, but does that signal the end of economic instability? Today on Before the Bell we’re compiling international perspectives on China’s market weakness. Elsewhere, there’s actually good news coming from the Canadian oil patch for one junior producer, and we pick some healthcare stocks that could be vulnerable to a selloff – here’s what you need to know today:
You must have heard the old saying, “When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.” (If you haven’t yet, surely you will over the next few days.) Well, China sneezed. Opinions differ on whether the world caught a 24-hour virus or a full-blown flu. The Guardian believes that China can ride out the current crisis (although not for much longer). Nicholas R. Landy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, writes in a New York Times op-ed that the idea of a crisis is a false alarm. Fortune magazine, however, doesn’t agree, calling China’s meltdown “out of control.” Clearly it’s a divisive topic and as I said, we’ll be revisiting it with expert insights on SmallCapPower in the weeks to come.
Domestically, junior oil and gas producer Surge Energy’s record drilling results powers the shares 13% higher yesterday, as mentioned in Sean Mason’s Canadian Small Cap Market Movers. Surge has certainly had their share of hurdles over thelast couple of years but they’ve continued production, made a few strategic acquisitions and have almost consistently paid a dividend to shareholders. Surge has been on a roll for some time, if stock message boards are anything to go by. Back in April BNN’s Andrew Bell listed Surge as one of his stocks to watch; you can view the clip here.
Healthcare shares have enjoyed a steady rise on the TSX over the past few years, but as with any industry, a bull run can buoy stocks that may not be winners. On SmallCapPower, our analysts compiled a list of five healthcare stocks that may be susceptible to a selloff. Interestingly, I thought this linked well to another article we posted yesterday from Investopedia: “Toronto Stock Exchange: Safest in the World?” While the article touts the many reasons why the TSX lived up to that billing, it did warn investors that there was a lack of diversity on the exchange, as important industries such as healthcare was poorly represented. Do you like investing in Canadian healthcare stocks, or are you worried about getting burned? Let me know.
Do you have a burning question you’d like answered by an investment expert or analyst? Let me know and I can post the answer here in the blog. Contact me by email at angela@smallcappower.com or on Twitter: @aharmantas.
