Stocks in Toronto prospered soon after the opening bell, with energy and financial stocks leading broad-based gains, while BlackBerry rallied after the company said it will outsource the development and design of its flagship smartphone.
The S&P/TSX Composite recovered 85.56 points to open Wednesday at 14,643.60
The Canadian dollar gained 0.01 cents at 75.78 cents U.S.
BlackBerry posted a 31.8% fall in second-quarter revenue and said it would end all internal hardware development, including its well-known smartphones.
The company once known as Research In Motion saw its shares zoom 64 cents, or 6.2%, to $11.05.
Rogers Communications’ deputy chairman said Tuesday the company remains committed to its dividend growth strategy and added the failure of its Shomi video streaming joint venture has not diminished its enthusiasm to invest in new technologies.
Rogers shares gained 12 cents to $56.20.
Barclays resumes coverage on Element Financial with an overweight rating, and a target price of $23.00. Element shares docked seven cents to $15.96.
CIBC raised the target price on Fortis Inc. to $47.00 from $44.00. Fortis dropped 14 cents a share to $42.16.
CIBC raised the rating on Surge Energy to sector performer from underperform. Surge shares did just that, three cents, or 1.2%, to $2.45.
ON BAY STREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 3.63 points at 798.12
All 12 TSX subgroups were in the green in the first hour of business, with energy triumphing 1%, while information technology and materials climbed 0.8% each.
ON WALL STREET
U.S. stocks rose slightly on Wednesday as investors braced for commentary from several key Federal Reserve officials while an OPEC meeting overseas concluded.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 25.31 points to 18,253.61, with Caterpillar leading advancers and McDonald's the top decliner.
The S&P 500 inched up 1.35 points to 2,161.28, with energy leading nine sectors higher ant health-care and telecommunications as the only laggards.
The NASDAQ Composite added 3.46 points to 5,309.17
In economic data news, U.S. durable goods orders for August came in unchanged versus an expected decline, but core capital goods orders rose for a third straight month.
There are six Fed officials scheduled to speak, including St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, Kansas City Fed President Esther George, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in a prepared testimony to the House Financial Services Committee that U.S. banks are well capitalized, but remain challenged by weak interest income. She did not comment on monetary policy, however.
Other data due Wednesday include the Energy Information Administration's weekly report on U.S. oil inventories.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained a slight bit of ground, raising yields to 1.56% from Tuesday’s 1.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 67 cents to $45.34 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dropped $3.10 at $1,327.30 U.S. an ounce.
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