Equities in Canada’s largest centre moved tentatively ahead by midday Wednesday, with energy again carrying the day.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 59.55 points to break for lunch Wednesday at 21,296.07.
The Canadian dollar poked up 0.01 cents to 78.72 cents U.S.
As mentioned, energy was the champ by noon hour, with Crescent Point popping 55 cents, or 7.6%, to $7.75, while Baytex Energy gained 18 cents, or 4.5%, to $4.17.
Tech shares held things down, however, with Docebo falling $7.01, or 8.7%, to $73.70, while HUT 8 Mining doffed 50 cents, or 4.8%, to $9.82.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada the total value of building permits increased 6.8% to $11.2 billion in November.
The agency went on to say seven provinces, led by Alberta (+20.6%) reported increases. Construction intentions in the residential sector rose 12.0% while the non-residential sector declined 3.4%.
Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra on Tuesday called for an investigation into reports of maskless revelers on a recent Sunwing Airlines flight to Cancun, as the country battles soaring cases of COVID-19.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.90 points to 944.47.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, with energy surging 2.2%, gold up 0.9%, and communications stronger by 0.7%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by information technology, sliding 2.1%, health-care, weaker by 1.8%, and real-estate, down 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks south of the border were little changed Wednesday, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a record close, as investors assessed the state of the economic recovery.
The blue-chip index advanced 75.62 points from Tuesday’s all-time record to 36,875.27
The S&P 500 index dipped 5.67 points to 4,787.87.
The NASDAQ dropped 128.74 points at 15,493.98.
Dow component Salesforce dropped 5.6% and was among the top decliners in the S&P 500, following a downgrade from UBS. UBS also cut Adobe, sending its shares down 4.8%.
Chipmakers and tech stocks remained under pressure after their selloff on Tuesday. DocuSign, Microsoft and Okta fell around 2% each.
Bank of America gave an upgrade to Pfizer, noting that the company’s profits from COVID treatments provide upside for the stock. Pfizer’s shares moved 2.5% higher.
ADP reported Wednesday that private job growth totaled 807,000 in December, more than double the Dow Jones estimate of 375,000. The data in the report covers only through the middle of December, however, which was before the height of the escalation in COVID cases and concerns.
Investors looking for clues on where the economy stands heading into the New Year also awaited Friday’s more closely watched non-farm payrolls count, which is expected to show a gain of 422,000.
They’re also awaiting the release Wednesday of minutes from the December Federal Reserve meeting. Policymakers decided then to accelerate the pace of the monthly bond buying taper and indicated that three quarter-percentage-point interest rate hikes are coming in 2022. They also adjusted their outlook on inflation and economic growth.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys eased back, raising yields to 1.68% from Tuesday’s 1.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices strengthened $1.29 to $78.28 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $10.50 to $1,825.10 U.S. an ounce.
