Equity markets came out of their funk by midday Wednesday, on strength of energy and health-care stocks. Upbeat earnings from National Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Canada certainly helped.
The S&P/TSX Composite vaulted 116.77 points to greet noon EST at 18,446.86.
The Canadian dollar soared 0.26 cents to 79.67 cents U.S.
Royal added 17 cents to $112.34 and National Bank topped analysts' estimates for first-quarter profit, to leap $3.46, or 4.6%, to $79.27.
Dundee Precious Metals dipped five cents to $8.61, recovering from being among the top drags on the index. Centerra Gold fell 16 cents, or 1.1%, to $14.11.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were printing company Transcontinental which popped 71 cents, or 3.5%, to $20.94, and the aforementioned National.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 19.12 points, or 1.8%, to reach 1,058.72.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups had made their way into plus territory, with energy up 3.2%, health-care, better by 2.8%, and financials, improving 1.4%.
The four laggards were weighed most by utilities 1.4%, information technology, doddering 1%, and consumer staples, off 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Major stock averages wiped out earlier losses and traded higher on Wednesday as investors continued to pile into names sensitive to an economic comeback.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 246.47 points, to pause for lunch at 31,783.82. The biggest gainers in the blue-chip Dow were energy, industrials and financials, including Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Chevron and Caterpillar.
The S&P 500 recovered 24.29 points to 3,905.66.
The NASDAQ Composite rebounded 44.46 points to 13,509.66. Apple, Microsoft and Amazon and Facebook still traded in the red.
Tesla shares were 4.6% higher after Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood bought a ton more of her biggest holding during Tuesday’s selling. Wood bought more than $120 million worth of Tesla shares for the flagship Ark Innovation ETF, according to the firm’s website.
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration’s staff endorsed Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, bringing in a third vaccine to the U.S.
Bitcoin, which some view as a barometer of speculation in financial markets, rebounded back above $50,000 after more buying of the cryptocurrency from Square.
Bond yields jumped higher even after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in a congressional hearing that inflation was “soft” and that the U.S. economy was “a long way from our employment and inflation goals.”
Powell’s visit to Capitol Hill will continue when he addresses the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys staggered, raising yields to 1.42% from Tuesday’s 1.36%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.21 to $62.88 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $8.90 to $1,797.00
