Equities in Canada’s largest market rose slightly in early trade on Tuesday as an earnings beat boosted convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard and other consumer stocks and energy companies also gained.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index jumped 30.47 points to open Tuesday at 16,072.59
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.26 cents to 78.11 cents U.S.
Bank of Nova Scotia said its earnings increased by 4% in the fourth quarter, benefiting from strong performances by each of its businesses.
Scotiabank shares faded $2.17, or 2.6%, to $81.31.
The Keystone crude oil pipeline will restart at reduced pressure on Tuesday, TransCanada Corp said, nearly two weeks after closing the line after it leaked 5,000 barrels of crude in rural South Dakota.
TransCanada shares gained 71 cents, or 1.1%, to $64.20.
Desjardins raised the rating on Kirkland Lake Gold to buy from hold. Kirkland Lake stock gathered six cents to $16.86.
Eight Capital raised the price target on Canopy Growth to $22.00 from $18.00. Canopy shares dropped 30 cents, or 1.5%, to $19.33.
TD Securities raised the rating on Roots Corp. to action list buy from buy. Roots shares eked up three cents to $9.91.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that its industrial product price index rose 1.0% in October, mainly due to higher prices for motorized and recreational vehicles.
The agency’s raw materials price index zoomed increased 3.8%, primarily due to higher prices for crude energy products.
Producer prices data for October was expected to show an increase of 0.5% compared with a fall of 0.3% in September.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.36 points to 794.03
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour, with consumer staples rocketing 1.2%, consumer discretionaries stronger by 1.1%, and utilities up 0.5%.
The two laggards were financials and health-care, each off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both hit record highs at the open
The Dow sprinted 74.07 points to begin Tuesday at 23,654.85
The S&P 500 tacked on 6.78 points to 2,608.20,
The NASDAQ Composite added 8.32 points to 6,886.85, near its all-time high.
Amazon shares rose on Tuesday on the back of strong online sales for Cyber Monday, leading the broader U.S. stock market higher.
The e-commerce giant saw its shares climb 0.5% in early trade after Cyber Monday sales were projected to hit $6.59 billion by Adobe Insights, which would make for the largest ever online sum for a U.S. shopping day.
Amazon's stock has been on fire for the past week, rising nearly 5%, as the holiday shopping season kicks off. Consumers spent a record $5.03 billion online during Black Friday, according to Adobe.
The company also got a boost from a price-target increase at Goldman Sachs. Analysts at the investment bank raised their price target to $1,450 from $1,300, noting Amazon's "pace of innovation" and "increasing price flexibility." Amazon shares traded at about $1,200 on Tuesday.
In corporate news, Arby's Restaurant Group agreed to buy Buffalo Wild Wings for $157 per share, or $2.4 billion excluding debt. Meanwhile, Emerson Electric withdrew its $225 per share bid to buy Rockwell Automation.
On the data front, the U.S. National Home Price NSA Index rose 6.2% in September, according to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller. Other data set for release Tuesday include consumer confidence.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 2.32% from Monday’s 2.34%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 12 cents a barrel to $57.99 U.S.
Gold prices deducted $3.30 to $1,291.10 U.S. an ounce.
