Equities in Toronto climbed down from their lofty perch by noon on Tuesday, its first day of trading in 2022. Energy shares gained on firmer crude oil prices and worries eased around the omicron coronavirus variant.
The S&P/TSX Composite still managed to hang onto 33.78 points worth of gains to move into Tuesday afternoon at 21,256.62.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.27 cents to 78.69 cents U.S.
Chief gainer, as mentioned, proved to be energy issues, with Meg Energy chugging ahead 76 cents, or 6.5%, to $12.46, while Parex Resources picked up $1.35, or 6.3%, to $22.96.
Tech stocks weighed things down, however, with Shopify weakening $!50.13, or 8.6%, to $1,591.56, while Descartes Systems tumbled $6.57, or 6.4%, to $97.95.
Ontario on Monday announced restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus as officials warned of a "tsunami" of new COVID-19 cases in the days and weeks ahead due to the omicron variant.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said its industrial product price index increased 0.8% month over month in November and 18.1% year over year, while its raw materials price index The Raw Materials Price Index was down 1.0% on a monthly basis in November and up 36.2% year over year.
As well, Markit Canada said its manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index registered at 56.5 in December, down from 57.2 in November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 1.8 points to 940.98.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, with energy better by 2.8%, financials up 1.8%, and consumer discretionary stocks improving 1.1%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by information technology, off 1.3%, while real-estate faded 1.5%, and gold dumped 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial average rose for a second day to start 2022 as investors bet on the kinds of stocks that would benefit from a robust economy this year despite the omicron threat.
The blue-chip index stayed tall and proud by noon hour, gaining 241.61 points to 36,826.67, an intraday record.
The much-broader S&P 500 index eased back from its intraday, losing 4.53 points to 4,792.03.
The NASDAQ swooned 258.38 point, or 1.6%, at 15,574.52. Losses in tech shares that were big winners last year like Nvidia and Tesla, weighed on the broader market.
On the winning side in the session were stocks like banks, which stand to benefit from the rise in rates. JPMorgan Chase, American Express and Goldman Sachs were among the biggest gainers in the Dow.
Caterpillar and other stocks linked directly to the economic recovery also boomed. Energy shares like Chevron added 2%. Halliburton shares jumped 5% as crude prices rose and Morgan Stanley upgraded the oil services company.
On the losing side in the session were tech names with high valuations as investors rotated out of that sector as rates increased. Tesla, fell about 5% after jumping 13% on Monday and ending 2021 with a roughly 8.5% gain. Nvidia, which ended 2021, down almost 3%, fell Tuesday by 4.4%. Cloud companies CrowdStrike and Okta lost 5%.
Elsewhere, cruise operators continued their rebound, with shares of Carnival Corp and Norwegian Cruise rising roughly 2%. Airline stocks were also higher as part of the reopening trade. American and United Airlines rose about 2%.
Shares of Ford Motor rose more than 11% after the company opened orders this week for its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, which it had previously shut down due to an overwhelming response. The company also announced plans to nearly double its production plan to 150,000 annually.
Moderna shares fell 3% after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened the recommended waiting period for people who completed their primary Covid-19 vaccination series with Pfizer’s shots.
Investors this week have been betting the economy could overcome the latest surge in COVID cases and riding momentum from what was a stellar 2021 for the markets.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys plummeted, raising yields to 1.68% from Monday’s 1.63%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices strengthened $1.02 to $77.10 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $12.60 to $1,812.70 U.S. an ounce.
