Equities in Canada’s largest market listed slightly lower by the close Wednesday, owning to weakness in telecom and tech stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index doffed 3.07 points to finish Wednesday at 16,073.58
The Canadian dollar tacked on 0.44 cents to 78.72 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks ruled the roost, with Valeant Pharmaceuticals increased 57 cents, or 2.8%, to $21.03, while Canopy Growth climbed 99 cents, or 5.4%, to $19.35.
Gold finished the day shinier, as Barrick Gold improved 15 cents to $17.96, while Goldcorp inched up three cents to $16.94
Other resource stocks finished in the green, most notably Yangarra Resources, gaining three cents to $4.63, while Agnico Eagle Mines added 27 cents to $57.09.
Telecoms had not such a good day, as TELUS Corp. deferred 31 cents to $48.40, and Rogers Communications dropped $1.08, or 1.6%, to $68.50.
In the tech world, Mogo Finance Technology docked seven cents, or 1%, to $6.99.
Among consumer discretionary stocks, Canadian Tire lost 91 cents to $161.10, while Gildan Activewear doffed 21 cents to $39.80.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 3.06 points to 791.49
The 12 TSX subgroups were split down the middle, as health-care gained 2.3%, gold was up 0.6%, and materials were better by 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by telecoms, down 0.8%, information technology, sliding 0.5%, and consumer discretionary stocks, retreating 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Tech stocks in the U.S. eked out a record close on Wednesday, led by gains in Amazon.
The Dow Jones industrial average descended 64.65 points to close Wednesday at 23,526.18, with DowDuPont declining 0.9% to lead decliners. This, after Federal Reserve expresses concern about the impact of the market's sharp rise on the economy in a summary of its previous meeting.
The S&P 500 slid 1.95 points to 2,597.08, with financials and real estate as the worst-performing sectors. HP Enterprise was the worst-performing stock in the index.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 1.99 points on top of Tuesday’s all-time high, to 6,867.36, as Amazon gained more than 1%. Amazon shares rose amid media reports that the company's cloud business is about to announce a huge health-care deal with Cerner, one of the largest health technology companies in the world.
The NASDAQ has now posted record closes in back-to-back sessions; it also hit an intraday high on Wednesday.
U.S. markets are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.
Equities have been on fire this year, with the S&P 500 rising more than 15% and volatility remaining subdued.
Losses on the Dow and S&P 500 were muted by strong corporate earnings. Tractor maker Deere reported quarterly earnings and revenue that surpassed analyst expectations. The company's stock jumped 4.3%. Deere also issued strong earnings guidance for the coming fiscal year.
HP Enterprise on Tuesday also reported better-than-expected sales and earnings, but its stock fell more than 7% after CEO Meg Whitman announced she will step down from her role early next year.
Salesforce and Gamestop's earnings also topped analyst expectations.
Overall, this earnings season has been solid. With 97.8% of the S&P 500 having reported, calendar third-quarter earnings are up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis, according to FactSet. Also, about 74% of companies have posted earnings that have surpassed expectations.
On the data front, durable goods orders fell 1.2% in October; economists expected a 0.3% increase. Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims hit 239,000, just below an estimate of 240,000.
The minutes from the Fed's Oct. 31-Nov. 1 meeting showed the central bank's officials have started to worry that market prices are getting out of hand and are posing a danger to the economy.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 2.32% from Tuesday’s 2.36%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices improved $1.18 a barrel to $58.01 U.S.
Gold prices advanced $10.00 to $1,291.70 U.S. an ounce.
