Equities in Canada’s largest centre ebbed and flowed on Wednesday, before settling in higher country. This, as Wall Street stabilized following a rout in the previous session on rate hike fears, while a bounce in oil prices pushed energy stocks higher.
The TSX Composite hung onto gains of 80.74 points to close Wednesday at 19,726.14.
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.03 cents to 75.94 cents.
Energy stocks led the gainers, as Secure Energy vaulted 38 cents, or 6.8%, to $5.96. Cenovus Energy hiked $1.18, or 4.9%, to $25.49.
In health-care, Bausch Health Companies sprinted 55 cents, or 5.7%, to $10.25, while Aurora Cannabis added three cents, or 1.5%, to $2.00.
In tech issues, Converge jumped 27 cents, or 4.6%, to $6.13, while Softchoice added 76 cents, or 4.1%, to $19.47.
Units of Allied Properties REIT helped anchor real-estate issues down, losing 70 cents, or 2.2%, to $31.12, while SmartCentres REIT lost 58 cents, or 2%, to $27.86.
In communications, Corus Entertainment dipped 20 cents, or 7%, to $2.66, while BCE fell $1.36, or 2.2%, to $61.14.
In consumer discretionaries, Canadian Tire faltered $4.56, or 2.8%, to $157.57, while Sleep Country Holdings skidded 72 cents, or 2.8%, to $25.19.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada told investors manufacturing dropped 0.9% in July, mainly on lower sales of primary metals and petroleum and coal products industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 7.94 points, or 1.2%, to 653.87
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly split by the close, with energy popping 2.5%, health-care haler by 1.3%, and information technology up 0.7%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by real-estate, down 1.1%, while communications dithered 0.9%, and consumer discretionary stocks dipped 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite ground higher in choppy trading on Wednesday as investors tried to find their footing after the biggest one-day drop in more than two years.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 30.12 points Wednesday to 31,135.09
The S&P 500 piled on 13.32 points to 3,946.01.
The NASDAQ Composite rocketed 86.1 points to 11,719.68.
Moderna was one of the top performers in the NASDAQ, jumping more than 6%. Tesla rose 3.6%, and Apple tacked on 1%.
Wednesday’s late day 52-week lows in the S&P 500 included Intel, which fell to the lowest since February 2016.
Other stocks hitting 52-week lows included Walgreens Boots Alliance lowest since Nov. 2020
Capital One (Jan. 2021)
Quest Diagnostics (March 2021)
The Dow sank more than 1,200 points Tuesday, or nearly 4%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.3%. The NASDAQ Composite dropped 5.2%. It was the biggest one-day slide for all three averages since June 2020.
The market moves came after August’s consumer price index report showed headline inflation rose 0.1% on a monthly basis despite a drop in gas prices.
The hot inflation report left questions over whether stocks could go back to their June lows or fall even further. It also spurred some fears that the Federal Reserve could potentially hike even higher than the 75 basis points markets are pricing in.
Treasury prices gained a bit, lowering yields to 3.41% from Tuesday’s 3.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.
Oil prices surged $1.47 to $88.78 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $11.90 to $1,705.50 U.S. an ounce.
Stocks Stabilize After Massive Selloff
