Stocks in Canada’s largest centre little changed on Wednesday as a sharp fall in online retail platform Shopify Inc shares were offset by broader gains led by natural resource companies.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index handed back 14.39 points greet noon at 15,714.12
The Canadian dollar improved 0.07 cents to 80.13 cents U.S
Shopify, which was the most influential mover on the index, fell 8.8% to $132.95 after short-seller Citron Research commented negatively about the company.
The materials sector, which includes miners and fertilizer companies, added strength as gold and other metal prices rose. Franco Nevada increased 1.8% to $99.01.
The financials sector gained slightly, as Intact Financial rose 1.6% to $102.45.
Industrials fell, as Waste Connection Inc dropped 2.6% to $86.02.
Toronto home sales plunged in September from a year earlier and prices were down 15.5% from their April peak, but sales and prices inched up from August, suggesting housing in Canada's largest city may be stabilizing, data showed.
Canadian auto sales rose 7.7% in September, driven by strong demand for trucks, which made up for nearly 70% of total sales in the country.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.76 points to 784.07
The 12 TSX subgroups were divided evenly between gainers and losers, gold leading the former group, climbing 0.5%, materials were ahead 0.4%, and consumer staples were 0.2% to the good.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by information technology, down 0.9%, industrials, weaker by 0.4%, and energy, down 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks inched higher on Wednesday and eked out record highs as health-care outperformed.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 35.41 points to Tuesday’s record, pausing for noon at 22,677.08, UnitedHealth contributing the most to the slight gains.
The S&P 500 advanced 3.93 points to 2,533.99 from Tuesday’s all-time record to 2,533.88, Health-care has been on a tear this week, advancing 1.4% in the period.
The NASDAQ added 5.52 points to Tuesday’s record high to 6,537.23
Helping lift stocks was regained enthusiasm around the possibility of tax reform. Last week, Republicans unveiled sweeping changes to the U.S. tax code. The proposed changes would lower the corporate tax rate to 20% from 35%.
Investors sifted through key economic data on Wednesday. ADP and Moody's said that private-sector jobs grew by 135,000 in September, which is a sharp decline from August. The report from ADP and Moody's often serves as a preview to the government's employment situation report. The latest government read on jobs growth is set for release Friday morning.
Other data released Wednesday included the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index, which hit 59.8 in September. Last month's print easily beat the expected number of 55.5.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were down a bit, raising yields to 2.34% from Tuesday’s 2.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered two cents a barrel to $50.44 U.S.
Gold prices stayed positive $1.80 to $1,276.40 U.S. an ounce
