Equities in Canada’s largest market rose midday on Tuesday after the surprise fall in domestic headline inflation in February raised hopes of early interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada.
The TSX Composite jumped 48.24 points as morning became afternoon at 21,885.42.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.27 cents to 73.61 cents U.S.
In domestic company news, K92 Mining slipped 22 cents, or 3.5%, to $6.13, after the miner said underground operations at a gold mine in Papua New Guinea have been temporarily suspended after a non-industrial incident earlier this month led to the death of an employee.
Brookfield Asset Management was up 12 cents to $55.03 as the company named insider Hadley Peer Marshall as chief financial officer.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada says the Consumer Price Index rose 2.8% on a year-over-year basis in February, down from a 2.9% gain in January. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.1% in February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 4.82 points to 544.50.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups moved ahead, led by energy, rumbling 0.9%, while financials and consumer discretionary stocks each climbed 0.4%.
The four laggards were weighed most by gold, trailing 0.9%, materials, down 0.7%, and industrials, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite fell on Tuesday, dragged by declines in major tech names such as Nvidia, with Wall Street turning its eyes to Washington as the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day policy meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials strengthened 204.45 points to 38,994.88.
The S&P 500 index inched up 2.12 points to 5,151.54.
The NASDAQ remained negative 46.23 points to 16,057.92.
Chip darling Nvidia pulled back 1.5% as investors evaluated the news from its first-ever GTC Conference. CEO Jensen Huang unveiled Nvidia’s latest AI chip, labeled Blackwell, which he touted as a significantly more powerful successor to its chips that power a multitude of AI operations. The stock had rallied more than 78% year to date heading into the event, possibly enticing investors to book some profits following the news.
Super Micro Computer, a primary vendor for building out Nvidia’s AI servers, dropped more than 10.5% on news of a share offering. Shares have ripped more than 250% higher this year on AI enthusiasm, leading the stock to be added to the S&P 500 on Monday.
In another sign that the recent bull run could be slowing down, bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy dropped more than 11.5%. The stock had more than doubled in 2024 as bitcoin surged to record highs.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 4.31% from Monday’s 4.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up a dollar to $83.72 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $7.20 to $2,157.100.
