Equities in Canada’s largest centre opened higher on Tuesday as optimism around Washington lawmakers agreeing on a U.S. stimulus deal before the presidential election lifted sentiment.
The TSX Monday regained 27.18 points to open Tuesday at 16,301.25.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.06 cents to 75.86 cents U.S.
National Bank of Canada cut the rating on Boyd Group Services to sector perform. Boyd shares descended $2.58, or 1.2%, to $206.87.
RBC cut the rating on KP Tissue to sector perform from outperform. KP shares backed off eight cents to $12.85.
RBC raises target price on Air Canada to $23.00 from $22.00. The Maple Leaf airline saw its shares gain altitude 34 cents, or 2.2%, to $15.95.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange restocked 1.81 points to 719.62.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour, with materials soaring 0.5%, while gold and financials picked up 0.3% each.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, ailing 0.9%, industrials, down 0.4%, and utilities, sliding 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Tuesday as a deadline for a new fiscal stimulus deal from Washington approached.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered from Monday’s 400-point plunge, adding 149.85 points to kick off Tuesday at 28,345.27.
The S&P 500 restocked 17.59 points to 3,444.51.
The NASDAQ pointed upward 45.95 points to 11,524.83.
Stocks rose after the Moderna CEO told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s coronavirus vaccine could be available for emergency use in December if it gets positive results from its interim trial in November.
Shares of Carnival Corp. gained 1.3%, and American Airlines rose 0.8%. Procter & Gamble shares climbed 2% after the company reported sales growth of 9% for the previous quarter. The company’s earnings per share also topped analyst expectations.
Travelers, another Dow component, jumped 3.3% on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results. The company posted a profit of $3.12 per share on revenue of $7.77 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $3.03 per share on sales of $7.55 billion.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “continued to narrow their differences” in a Monday afternoon phone call to discuss another stimulus package, according to Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill. The speaker said that Tuesday is the deadline to reach an agreement before the Nov. 3 election.
Stimulus negotiations have hung over the market for months after the main provisions from the CARES Act expired at the end of July. Since then, job growth has slowed but consumer spending has continued to recover. However, some indicators have shown that savings built up by the massive economic relief package are starting to run out.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury lost sharply, lifting yields to 0.79% from Monday’s 0.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices subtracted 40 cents at $40.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subtracted seven dollars to $1,904.70
