Equities in Canada’s largest centre rose modestly on Wednesday as energy shares were boosted by higher oil prices and as Canadian Pacific Railway jumped, after better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index had let go of much of its gains, but still held onto 0.74 points to greet noon at 15,817.64
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.14 cents to 80.05 cents U.S.
CP Rail was the biggest lift on the index, up 5.2% at $220.64, after the company also raised its full-year profit forecast.
The results gave a boost to its railroad operator peer Canadian National Railway, which gained 1.1% to $101.50. The two companies helped lift the industrial sector.
Encana Corp, which holds its investor day on Wednesday, rose 4.5% to $14.94.
Barrick Gold fell 0.8% to $20.17, while Teck Resources was off 0.6% to $28.
Shares of Bombardier fell 4.4% to $2.61, after gaining more than 15% in the previous session after Airbus agreed to take a majority stake in the company’s CSeries jetliner.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales increased 1.6% to $53.5 billion in August, breaking a two-month losing streak. The gain was mainly attributable to higher sales in the transportation equipment, and petroleum and coal product industries.
Sales were up in eight of the 21 industries, representing 66% of the Canadian manufacturing sector.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 4.26 points by noon to 786.82
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided by midday Wednesday, as industrials chugged along 1.6%, consumer discretionaries gained 0.9%, while information technology picked up 0.4%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by gold, down 0.9%, health-care, sliding 0.8%, and telecoms, retreating 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock indexes were all positive Wednesday, the blue-chips emphatically so.
The Dow Jones Industrials index leaped 140.62 points over Tuesday’s all-time record to 23,138.06, after tech giant IBM reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
The Dow also crossed above 23,000 again on Wednesday. The index first broke above 23,000 on Tuesday, but closed just below the mark.
The Dow traded above 23,000 just 76 days after first breaking above 22,000.
The S&P 500 squeezed higher 1.79 points to 2,561.19
The NASDAQ eked up 0.94 points to 6,624.60
IBM posted adjusted earnings per share of $3.30 on revenue of $19.15 billion Tuesday after the close. Analysts expected “Big Blue” to report earnings of $3.28 per share on sales of $18.6 billion. The company's stock surged more than 8% in early trade and was on track for its biggest one-day rise since January 2009. The IT giant also reported its 22nd consecutive quarter of declining revenue, however.
This earnings season has gotten off to a good start, with more than 80% of companies that have reported beating on the bottom line, while 73% have topped sales estimates
United Continental, eBay and Dow component American Express are set to report after the close Wednesday.
Companies that reported Wednesday before the bell included Abbott Labs, M&T Bank and Supervalu.
Northern Trust also posted quarterly results, beating top and bottom-line estimates. The company's stock rose 5.8% and was the second-best performer on the S&P 500, which hit an intraday record in early trade.
Hopes of U.S. tax reform have received a boost lately after the House passed a $4.1-trillion budget. The Senate is expected to vote on a budget bill this week.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note tanked, raising yields to 2.34% from Tuesday’s 2.3%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost one cent a barrel to $51.87 U.S.
Gold prices settled $3.80 per ounce to $1,282.40 U.S.
