Stocks in Toronto gained strength by Wednesday’s close, as might in the real-estate and health-care sector over weakness in the industrial end of things.
The S&P/TSX Composite muscled higher 55.24 points to close Wednesday at 15,554.04
The Canadian dollar added 0.24 cents at 76.04 cents U.S.
Among real-estate plays, Brookfield Asset Management gained 15 cents to $46.80.
Among health-care stocks, Canopy Growth Corporation popped 46 cents, or 4%, to $11.93. Valeant Pharmaceuticals hiked 54 cents, or 2.9%, to $19.29.
Gold stocks also fared well, as IAMGOLD sprang to life 23 cents, or 3.5%, to $6.74, while Kinross Gold jumped 17 cents, or 3.2%, to $5.50.
Industrial stocks hesitated, though Bombardier climbed five cents, or nearly 2%, to $2.60, while Canadian Pacific Railway dived $1.58 to $191.82. Shares in Air Canada dropped seven cents to $13.31.
Information technology stocks dwindled as Constellation Software fell $6.41, or 1.1%, to $583.59.
In an in-depth letter to shareholders released today, Alberta’s Enterprise Group Inc. CEO Leonard D. Jaroszuk imparted his unique resource industry intel to investors; mainly that the resource sector appears to be steadily strengthening.
Jaroszuk noted that resource development budgets are up significantly for 2017; in some individual cases more than double 2016. Further, Enterprise management has significant skin in the game.
Throughout the downturn, management increased direct personal equity investment by 275%. As well, the new resource-friendly direction from the new U.S. administration appears to be signaling a major and ongoing boost to the sector.
Shares of Enterprise Group lost a half a cent, or 1.7%, on the day to finish at 29.5 cents.
On the economic front, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported this morning that its trend measure of housing starts in Canada was 199,834 units in January compared to 197,881 in December.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.61 points to 825.41
All but two of the 12 subgroups were higher on the day, as real-estate moved up 1%, while health-care and gold bettered themselves 0.9% each.
The two laggards were industrials, down 0.3%, and information technology, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities closed mixed Wednesday as financials led decliners, while oil rebounded following the release of key supply data.
The Dow Jones Industrials backpedaled 53.22 points from Tuesday’s all-time high to 20,037.07, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses. Apple, another Dow component, traded near its all-time high. The index had fallen about 75 points at session lows.
The S&P 500 skidded 2.11 points to 2,290.97, with real estate outperforming and financials falling 0.7%.
The NASDAQ added 8.24 points to climb to another all-time record of 5,682.45
Allergan, GlaxoSmithKline, Time Warner and Alaska Air are among the major companies that reported earnings before the bell. Whole Foods, CenturyLink, Fiserv and Prudential Financial are all due to report after the market close.
Dow component Walt Disney posted mixed quarterly results Tuesday after the close, as earnings per share topped analyst expectations while sales fell short.
As of Wednesday morning, 64% of S&P 500 companies had posted quarterly results, with 69% of those firms topping earnings estimates, while 52% have beaten sales expectations
Crude prices for March delivery rose (see below), with the U.S. Energy Information Administration reporting a 13.8-million-barrel increase in oil inventories. The American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday that inventories rose by 14.2 million barrels the week of Feb. 3, sharply above the expected 2.5-million-barrel increase.
WTI had traded about 1% lower shortly after the EIA's release before turning positive
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note strengthened, lowering yields to 2.34% from Tuesday’s 2.4%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 26 cents to $52.43 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $5.60 to $1,243.80 U.S. an ounce.
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