While Canadian capital markets slowed this week after a very busy previous week, in the week ahead, we're looking forward to the trading debut of Sophic client, Luckbox (LUCK-TSXV). Emerge Ecommerce (ECOM-TSXV) is also expected to start trading this coming week. Meanwhile, in the USA, AirBnB, DoorDash and C3.AI, all had very strong trading debuts as expected by most. At the same time, IPOs of Roblox and Affirm seem delayed to 2021, with speculation that these companies may try a different approach than the traditional IPO in order to avoid massive IPO pops, which do not benefit companies issuing new stock. Some alternatives could include direct listing, auction IPOs or going public via a SPAC. At the same time, there seems to be increasing chatter about unsustainable valuations.

The premarket hours are back in the red again on Wednesday. But we're seeing plenty of penny stocks shine. The fact that most small-cap stocks are disconnected from the overall market trend is something I think is overlooked. While not all penny stocks will respond this way, many do. We saw this today with several of the breakout, midstream oil stocks that were moving hugely in after-hours trading on Tuesday evening.

LONDON – Unprecedented volumes of data and advances in AI are transforming the marketing services industry, according to a report released by leading technology advisory and investment firm GP Bullhound. AI and the Services Revolution reveals that investments in marketing-related AI have grown steadily, with $2.5bn of investments in emerging companies in 2018 – and $1 billion invested in Q2 2019 alone. A total of $11bn has been invested in the sector since 2014. While North America accounts for the majority of funding into AI marketing companies with a yearly volume of around $1.5bn in 2014-2018, Europe is showing the highest growth rate. The European market grew to represent 30% of all transactions in H1 2019, while Asian transactions have declined from 20% in 2018 to only 5% as of H1 2019.

Unprecedented volumes of data and advances in AI are transforming the marketing services industry, according to new research from technology advisory and investment firm GP Bullhound. The firm's new report, AI and the Services Revolution, reveals that investments in marketing-related AI have grown steadily, with $2.5 billion of investments in emerging companies in 2018--and $1 billion invested in Q2 2019 alone. In all, a total of $11 billion has been invested in the sector since 2014. While North America accounts for the majority of funding into AI marketing companies, with a yearly volume of around $1.5 billion in 2014-2018, Europe is showing the highest growth rate. The European market grew to represent 30 percent of all transactions in H1 2019, while Asian transactions have declined from 20 percent in 2018 to only 5 percent as of H1 2019.