Despite deepening crisis in Ukraine, global equity markets were up 1.9% last week (down 4.6% in the prior week). We are expecting equities to be under pressure in the near-term amid escalating geopolitical tensions, supply-chain disruptions, high commodity prices, and new restrictions/lockdowns in China to combat a recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
Valuations of gold producers were up 3% last week (up 1% previously); base metal producers were down 7% (up 5% previously). We expect valuations to increase with rising metal prices. As mentioned last week, juniors are lagging seniors. As juniors typically follow seniors (during a rally), we are expecting stronger performance from juniors in the coming weeks.
The global MCAP of cryptos increased 0.26% last week to US$1.72T (previously down 4.7%).
As of March 14, 2022, there are 3,109 retail cannabis stores in Canada, an increase of 16 stores WoW, including 11 in B.C., and five in Ontario. As we speculated, there was an error on the B.C. cannabis government website last week, reflecting a WoW decline in stores. The store count had actually increased in B.C. For more details, view our last report.
