Stocks in Canada’s largest centre rose on Wednesday, clawing back some losses at the start of the week, including gains for beaten-up financial stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 38.04 points to begin Wednesday’s session at 12,320.69
The Canadian dollar stumbled 0.38 cents to 71.74 cents U.S.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd said on Tuesday it planned to seek support from Norfolk Southern Corp's shareholders to push the U.S. railroad's board to engage in takeover talks.
CP shares picked up 26 cents to $172.80.
CIBC cut the rating on Canaccord Genuity Group to sector perform from outperform. Canaccord shares backtracked 14 cents, or 3.2%, to $4.20.
Barclays raised the price target on Teck Resources to $5.00 from $4.00, with an underweight rating.
Teck shares took on 11 cents, or 2%, to $5.63.
CIBC cut the rating on Lake Shore Gold to sector perform from outperform.
Lake Shore shares dropped a dime, or 6.3%, to $1.48.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged up 0.68 points to 506.17
Nine of the 13 TSX subgroups moved higher in the first hour of trade, as information technology surged 3.1%, while financials and real-estate each tallied 1.2%.
The four laggards were weighed most by energy, trailing off 1.9%, materials, doffing 1.5%, and metals and mining, weaker by 1.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Wednesday as investors digested prepared remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, as well as a turnaround in the financial sector.
The Dow Jones industrial average recovered 78.14 points to 16,092.52, as Goldman Sachs contributed the most gains
The S&P 500 added 14.15 points to 1,866.36, led higher by health-care and information technology.
The NASDAQ index surged 68.42 points, or 1.6%, to 4,337.18, as technology stocks gained ground. Netflix gained 4%, and Alphabet shares picked up 2%.
Earnings season continued Wednesday morning, with Time Warner and Humana, among others, reporting before the bell. Cisco Systems, Tesla Motors, Twitter and Whole Foods are scheduled to report after the bell.
Yellen delivered her remarks to Congress this morning, in which she noted that, if the U.S. economy were to disappoint, the Fed would have to reconsider its rate hike path.
Investors also paid attention to oil prices, which went south in the early going. The oil market has been maligned by oversupply concerns throughout the year, pushing U.S. crude down about 24% this year.
Investors will digest fresh supply data from the Energy Information Administration at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury faded, raising yields to 1.74% from Tuesday’s 1.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices faded 41 cents a barrel to $27.53 U.S.
Gold prices moved higher $1.10 to $1,190.23 U.S. an ounce.
