Big Gains for TSX to Start November
Health-care Stocks Blossom
Equities in Canada’s largest market sprinted Monday to start off November, with health-care and techs showing the way.
The S&P/TSX Composite index hurtled into the stratosphere 209.94 points, or 1%, to close Monday at 21, 247.01
The Canadian dollar gained 0.12 cents to 80.86 cents U.S.
Health care stocks provided further support on the back of Aurora Cannabis, which hiked 44 cents, or 5.4%, to $8.65., while Organigram Holdings chugged ahead 14 cents, or 5.1%, to $2.87.
In the tech field, BlackBerry jumped 66 cents, or 4.9%, to $14.03, while Shopify bounded $78.134, or 4.3%, to $1,885.15.
Among energy plays, Imperial Oil zoomed $1.66, or 4%, to $43.56, while Vermilion Energy added 40 cents, or 3%, to $13.82.
Real-estate stocks did not fare so well, however, as First Service docked $3.35, or 1.4%, to $243.49, while Altus Group ditched 51 cents to $64.40.
In the industrial sector, Cargojet was grounded $10.10, or 5.1%, to $186.95, while Thomson Reuters fell $2.04, or 1.4%, to $146.83.
On the economic front, Markit Canada said its Purchasing Managers manufacturing index registered at 57.7 in October, up from 57.0 in September.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 17.77 points, or 1.9%., to 968.20.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, with health-care zooming 3.4%, energy and information technology up 1.8% each.
The two laggards were real-estate, down 0.3%, and industrials, off 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose slightly to new records on Monday — the first trading day of November — after markets emerged from a historically tough seasonal period successfully.
The Dow Jones Industrials took on 94.28 points to 35,876.49, helped by gains in Boeing and Dow Inc., closing at a fresh record.
The S&P 500 regained 8.29 points to 4,613.67, also closing at an all-time high.
The NASDAQ Composite jumped 97.53 points to 15.595.92, and also hit a closing record.
The Dow rose 5.8% in October. The S&P 500 rallied 6.9% last month and the technology-focused NASDAQ added 7.3% in October.
For the year, the S&P 500 is up more than 22%.
Tesla, which became a $1-trillion company last week, continued its gains for the year with shares up 8.5%. Investors have been piling into bets on Tesla options as of late.
Stocks linked to an economic recovery, such as Ford and Occidental Petroleum, were also higher. Ford gained 5% and Occidental Petroleum popped 3.8%. Airlines and retailers were mostly in the green, while mega-cap tech stocks underperformed.
October’s Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index fell to 60.8 from September’s 61.1. Economists were expecting the index to fall to 60.3. Any number above 50 is considered expansion.
Investors will also be monitoring the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting Tuesday and Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to announce that it will begin to unwind its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases and end the program entirely by the middle of next year.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys were higher in the afternoon, lowering yields to Friday’s 1.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 40 cents to $83.97 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $11.10 to $1,795 U.S. an ounce.
