Stocks in Toronto opened higher on Monday as producer prices made headway.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 68.02 points to start out the week at 15,781.84.
The Canadian dollar recouped 0.22 cents at 73.54 cents U.S.
Stifel raised the target price on Aphria to $8.00 from $5.30. Aphria shares popped 45 cents, or 7.7%, to $6.28.
TD Securities raised the price target on MTY Food Group to $28.00 from $24.00. MTY shares docked $1.94, or 6.7%, to $26.87.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada said Friday producer prices in Canada gained 0.4% in June from May, primarily on higher prices for energy and petroleum products.
Energy and petroleum prices jumped 11.7%, the agency said, largely led by an increase in refined petroleum products, including gasoline, light fuel oils and diesel fuel.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange continued its climb, gathering 15.91 points, or 2.3%, to 700.62.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in Monday’s first hour, as materials zoomed 1.3%, health-care and communications each barreling higher 1.2%.
Only energy, waning 1%, and financials, off 0.2%, missed the festivities.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Monday, building on last week’s strong performance, as investors looked past record numbers in coronavirus cases from the weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrials galloped 319.33 points, or 1.2%, to 26,349.63.
The S&P 500 forged ahead 32.71 points, or 1%, to 3,217.55
The tech-heavy NASDAQ conquered yet more new territory, leaping 141.12 points, or 1.3%, to 10,758.56.
Positive news on the vaccine front lifted sentiment as well. Pfizer and German biotech BioNTech SE were granted fast track designation by the FDA for two of the companies’ four vaccine candidates against the coronavirus. Pfizer shares added 2.6%. BioNTech jumped 10%.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they expect to start the next phase of the vaccine trial later this month with 30,000 subjects. The companies expect to have 100 million doses of a vaccine by the end of 2020 and more than 1.2 billion doses by the end of 2021, according to a release.
Key technology shares climbed, continuing their mystifying run as investors bet on their resilience during the coronavirus. Apple, Amazon and Netflix were higher. Tesla jumped 12.6%. Analysts at Wedbush and Morgan Stanley raised their price targets on Apple, sending the stock up 1.9%.
Chip stocks increased after Analog Devices offered to buy Maxim Integrated in a $21 billion all-stock deal. Maxim jumped 11%.
Florida reported 15,299 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the highest single day total for any U.S. state since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has reported more than 60,000 new cases daily for three days in a row now, bringing the national total to more than three million cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury faded, raising yields to 0.65% from Friday’s 0.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 32 cents to $40.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices climbed $9.90 to $1,811.80 U.S. an ounce.
