Equities in Toronto gained on Tuesday, driven by precious metal miners and energy companies, ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index leaped 164.7 points to greet noon Tuesday at 16,518.15
The Canadian dollar nosed higher 0.08 cents to 74.64 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Canfor Corp., which rose 63 cents, or 5.9%, to $11.26, followed by Westshore Terminals Investment, which jumped $1.24, or 5.5%, to $23.75.
Hudson's Bay Company fell 32 cents, or 3.1%, the most on the TSX, to $9.93, after activist shareholder Jonathan Litt lambasted a $1.74-billion bid to take the Canadian retailer private as "woefully inadequate".
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales in this country declined 0.6% to $57.8 billion in April, following a 2.6% increase in March
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained afloat 1.6 points to 586.22
All 12 Toronto subgroups stayed in the green midday, as communications picked up 1.5%, materials improved 1.4%, and financials were 1.2% richer.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks surged on Tuesday after President Donald Trump said he will be meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the upcoming G-20 summit, boosting hope for a U.S.-China trade deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 326.30 points, or 1.3%, to 26,438.83, as Apple and Boeing outperformed.
The S&P 500 gained 30.37 points, or 1.1%, at 2,920.04. The S&P 500 also traded within 1% of its all-time intraday high of 2,954.13, which was reached May 1.
The NASDAQ Composite climbed 123.97 points, or 1.6%, to 7,969
Boeing leaped 2.3%, while another trade bellwether, Caterpillar shares, rose 2.9%. Deere shares also gained more than 3%. Semiconductor stocks jumped led by 6% gains from Nvidia and Micron Technology.
Stocks also got a boost as investors bet the Federal Reserve will set the stage for more accommodative monetary policy at this week’s meeting.
The Fed’s decision is scheduled to be announced Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.
Trump said in a tweet he “had a very good telephone conversation ” with Xi. He added: “We will be having an extended meeting next week at the G-20 in Japan. Our respective teams will begin talks prior to our meeting.” The summit will start on June 28.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained, driving down yields to 2.06% from Monday’s 2.09%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked $1.86 to $53.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices ballooned $6.50 at $1,349.40 U.S. an ounce.
