Canada's main stock index opened higher on Thursday, boosted by health-care and technology stocks, while dovish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell boosted risk appetite globally.
The TSX recovered 50.32 points to open Thursday at 20,801.37.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.2 cents at 75.15 cents U.S.
Canadian earnings season picked up pace, with telecom major BCE Inc reporting a smaller-than-expected fourth-quarter profit. BCE shares ditched $1.41, or 2.2%, to $61.83.
Rogers Communications, Canada Goose and software firm Lightspeed Commerce reported their quarterly results before markets open. Rogers shares tacked on 90 cents, or 1.4%, to $65.52. Canada Goose shares descended $4.05, or 12.4%, to $28.70.
Lightspeed, for its part, moved up 50 cents, or 2%, to $25.38.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said the monthly total seasonally adjusted value of building permits in Canada decreased 7.3% in December to $10.3 billion. Declines were posted in both the residential and the non-residential sectors.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 7.03 points, or 1.1%, to 636.86.
Seven of the 12 subgroups gained ground, as health-care jumped 3%, information technology clicked higher by 2%, and utilities advanced 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by energy, down 0.6%, consumer staples, off 0.4%, and communications, trailing Wednesday’s close by 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 gained on Thursday as better-than-expected Meta results further improved sentiment around technology shares, which led the market lower last year.
The Dow Jones Industrials backed off 146.21 points to start off Thursday at 33,946.75.
The S&P 500 gained 33.12 points to 4,152.33.
The NASDAQ Composite spiked 229.43 points, or 1.9%, to 12,045.75.
The gains come ahead of a trio of Big Tech results after the bell in Apple, Amazon and Alphabet.
Meta surged more than 19% after reporting a fourth-quarter beat on revenue and announcing a $40-billion stock buyback. That helped investors look past losses in the business unit overseeing the metaverse.
Other mega-cap tech stocks rose on the back of those results. Shares of Google-parent Alphabet were up more than 4%, while Amazon jumped more than 3%. Apple shares climbed more than 1%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury heightened, reducing yields to 3.39% from Wednesday’s 3.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 90 cents to $75.91 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices inched higher $1.30 to $1,944.10 U.S. an ounce.
