Canada's main stock index acquired some momentum as Wednesday morning became afternoon , with gains in real estate and financials, after the Bank of Canada held interest rates as expected, while attention shifted to the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision later in the day.
The TSX regrouped 63 points to greet noon EST Wednesday at 31,307.37.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.16 cents at 72.21 cents U.S.
In corporate updates, Air Transat and its pilot union announced they had reached a tentative deal that promised higher pay and better working conditions, averting a potential strike and allowing operations to return to normal. Air Transat shares moved forward eight cents, or 3.2%, to $2.60.
Canadian Natural Resources hesitated 39 cents to $46.28.
The Bank of Canada held its key interest rate at 2.25%. a move widely expected by economists. The market had 93.5% odds that the BoC would hold rates.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchanged docked 4.41 points to 935.87.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative by noon, weighed most by telecoms, off 0.6%, information technology, down 0.5%, and consumer staples, lower 0.4%.
The five gainers were led by financials, up 0.7%, real-estate, progressing 0.6%, and health-care, haler 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was relatively unchanged on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.
The Dow Jones Industrials rumbled higher 216,81 points to stop for lunch at 47,777.10.
The much-broader index gained back 1.19 points to 6,841.70.
The S&P 500 sits just around 1% below its last record close posted on Oct. 28, which was the day before the last Fed decision.
The NASDAQ drained 73.25 points to 23,503.24.
AeroVironment slid $30.66, or 10.9%, to $250.76. on the back of a fiscal second-quarter earnings miss. AeroVironment earned 44 cents per share, well below an LSEG estimate of 78 cents per share.
GameStop fell $1.21, or 5.2%, to $21.90, after the company posted its third-quarter results. GameStop earned an adjusted 24 cents per share on revenue of $821 million. Revenue was lighter than one analyst’s estimate expecting north of $900 million.
Stocks have been teetering between slight gains and losses in recent sessions as investors await this week’s key Fed meeting, which is the final one of the year.
The Fed is widely expected to deliver its third straight interest rate cut of a quarter percentage point, with fed funds futures suggesting a roughly 90% chance of a decrease.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were up slightly, lowering yields to 4.16% from Tuesday’s 4.18%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped 46 cents to $57.79.
Gold prices dipped $7.50 to $4,228.70.
