Oil prices have continued their upward climb, prompting money managers and hedge funds to raise their bullish bets on U.S. crude oil for a third week in a row, says Prab Sagoo, associate director at Nasdaq Advisory Services, in his weekly market commentary.

Read: What the next U.S. president could mean for Canadian oil

As a result, he adds, “Strong oil prices will continue to strengthen the TSX, influencing the heavyweight financials and energy stocks most.”

Read: Where to find energy opportunities

More highlights

  • This past week the Bank of Canada held rates as expected, indicating that non-energy exports are growing and that it will look to incorporate Federal stimulus details into its modelling ahead of a rate decision in April. Markets were also eventually buoyed by easing from the ECB. Read: BoC says volatilty abating
  • This coming week, all eyes will be on the next Federal Reserve decision and their wording on Wednesday. We also have domestic inflation data due later in the week – which will likely show continued imported inflation.
  • The TSX was +4% year-to-date at the end of last week, a strong outperformer versus the rest of the world. And, it broke through another key technical level on Friday by moving past its 200-day moving average for the first time since June 2015. Read: Is the TSX topping out?
  • But, due to this strong performance, the TSX is now within touching distance of moving into technical overbought status. Its relative strength index is now higher than when it hit an interim high in mid-October 2015 and is near its reading for mid-April 2015 (the TSX’s 52 week high).