Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday, boosted by energy stocks, as hopes of a working COVID-19 vaccine and a $1.66 billion buyout deal for Great Canadian Gaming lifted sentiment.
The TSX jumped 168.19 points to pause for lunch Wednesday at 16,783.56.
The Canadian dollar surrendered 0.16 cents to 76.58 cents U.S.
Great Canadian Gaming surged $10.09, or 34.9%, to $39.00 after the company said Apollo Global Management would acquire the firm for about $2.16 billion.
Linamar rose $7.38, or 15.2%, to $55.81, and was among the top percentage gainers after multiple brokerages turned bullish on auto parts maker's stock.
Aurora Cannabis fell $2.23, or 20.7%, the most on the TSX, to $8.55, after brokerage Stifel downgraded the pot producer's stock to sell from hold.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 1.9 points to 730.06.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher midday, with information techn0ology skyrocketing 3.6%, while energy gushed 1.6%, and utilities gained 1.4%.
The four laggards were weighed most by gold, down 1.1%, health-care, skidding 1%, and materials, off 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ were both higher on Wednesday as traders added exposure to tech names that were hard hit earlier in the week.
The Dow Jones Industrials kept in the green by 49.26 points to 29,470.18, putting it on pace for a three-day winning streak
The S&P 500 advanced 28.88 points to 3,574.41
The NASDAQ took on 211.82 points, or 1.8%, to 11,730.
Apple gained 1.9%. Netflix climbed 0.7%. Facebook picked up 1.8%, and Amazon rose 2.5%, respectively. Alphabet traded 0.9% higher and Microsoft was up by 2.3%.
The Dow was coming off two back-to-back strong sessions, jumping 262 points on Tuesday and surging more than 800 points on Monday following Pfizer and BioNTech’s announcement about their more than 90% effective Covid-19 vaccine.
Eli Lilly’s antibody drug was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use late Monday. The agency said the drug could be used to treat mild-to-moderate cases of Covid-19 in patients who are older than 12 years old.
The vaccine and antibody drug news comes as the United States once again topped its prior day record of daily new Covid-19 infections, on a seven-day average, while also crossing the bleak milestone of more than 10 million cases nationwide on Monday.
The seven-day average of daily new cases Monday was 108,964, a 37% increase from a week ago, according to an analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were unchanged, maintaining Tuesday’s 0.96% yield Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up 78 cents to $42.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $16.40 to $1,860
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