Equities in Canada’s largest market continued to surge midday Tuesday, led by gains for heavyweight financial and energy stocks, while shares of lumber companies rallied after new U.S. import duties on the product came out lower than some investors had expected.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 64.83 points to greet noon at 15,777.29, a new two-month high.
The Canadian dollar ducked 0.58 cents at 73.43 cents U.S.
The United States said it will impose preliminary anti-subsidy duties averaging 20% on imports of Canadian softwood lumber, escalating a long-running trade dispute between the two neighbors.
Shares in West Fraser Timber, which would pay the highest duty rate of the affected companies, rose 5.6% to $59.50, while Canfor Corp stock gained 3.5% to $18.82.
Other lumber stocks including Conifex Timber Inc, Western Forest Products Inc and Interfor Corp also gained.
Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold miner, fell 9.3% to $23.32, after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings and slashing its forecast for output and hiking costs at its gold mine in Argentina.
Teck Resources fell 5.6% to $27.94 after North America's largest producer of steelmaking coal reported lower-than-expected profit due to higher costs, lower production and sales volumes.
The energy group climbed, as oil prices slipped after recent sharp falls, with Canadian Natural Resources advanced 2.1% to $45.21.
The financials group was led by a 1.3 percent gain for the country's largest bank, Royal Bank of Canada, to $97.33.
Metro Inc. triumphed 5.9% to $44.76, after the retailer met earnings expectations and upped its dividend
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slouched 8.48 points, or 1%, to 809.58.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with consumer staples surging 1.8%, health-care up 1.1%, and financials richer 1%
The three laggards were gold, tumbling 3.9%, while materials were off 2.4%, and real-estate sliding 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities rose sharply on Tuesday as solid quarterly reports from several large-cap companies rolled through.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 243.44 points, or 1.2%, to 21,007.33,
The S&P 500 hiked 15.21 points to 2,389.36
The NASDAQ Composite hit a new intraday high, progressing 42.1 points to 6,025.92
Earnings season rolls on, and accordingly, Caterpillar posted Earnings Per Share of $1.28 and sales of $9.822 billion, versus expected EPS of 62 cents and $9.271 billion revenue forecast.
McDonald's posted EPS of $1.47 and revenue of $5.68 billion, versus expected EPS of $1.33 and sales of $5.53 billion.
3M posted EPS of $2.16 and revenue of $7.685 billion, versus expected EPS of $2.06 and sales of $7.472 billion.
DuPont posted EPS of $1.64 and sales of $7.743 billion, versus expected EPS of $1.39 and revenue of $7.504 billion.
More than 190 S&P components are expected to have reported by the end of the week. Other big names scheduled to release quarterly results this week include Boeing, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and General Motors.
However, investors also zeroed in on Washington, as President Donald Trump tried to avoid a government shutdown. Government funding will end Friday unless Congress can agree on at least a temporary funding resolution.
The Trump administration is also expected to release an outline to potential tax reform later this week. Tax reform expectations have been one of the key market drivers since the presidential election.
In economic news, U.S. home prices rose more than expected in February, according to new data from the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index.
The national home price index jumped 5.8% in February, while analysts were expecting home prices to climb by 5.7%.
New home sales hoisted 5.8% to 621,000 in March, stronger than expectations. Consumer confidence held at 120.3 for April.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell, raising yields to 2.31% from Monday’s 2.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 16 cents at $49.07 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dived $9.10 at $1,268.40 U.S. an ounce.
