Equities in Canada’s largest centre recovered from a woozy Wednesday, as health-care, tech and energy stocks lent some oomph to the indices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 80.43 points early Thursday to 15,989.21
The Canadian dollar slid 0.43 cents to 77.77 cents U.S.
Lululemon Athletica Inc on Wednesday reported a higher-than-expected profit and gave an upbeat holiday-quarter forecast, sending its shares up nearly 7% in after-hours trading.
Lululemon, which trades on the NASDAQ Composite under the symbol "LULU", surged in New York $4.49, or 6.6%, to $72.15 U.S.
Rogers Communications’ CFO said the company is considering selling the Toronto Blue Jays in an effort to generate cash that could be used in its core business.
Rogers shares gained eight cents to $66.05
Canaccord Genuity cut the rating on Automotive Finco Corp. to hold from speculative buy.
Automotive Finco shares slid four cents, or 1.9%, to $2.11.
CIBC raised the target price on Dollarama Inc. to $168.00 from $157.00 with an outperform rating.
Dollarama gained $3.41, or 2.3%, to $153.14.
Berenberg cut the price target on Lundin Mining to $7.50, with a hold rating. Lundin shares docked five cents to $6.76.
Alberta unveiled new rules on Wednesday on how it would charge large industrial emitters including the oil sands sector for carbon output, saying emissions will be cut by 19% by 2030
On the data beat, building permits Canadian municipalities issued $8.2 billion worth of building permits in October, up 3.5% from the previous month, according to figures from Statistics Canada.
The agency added all building components rose with the exception of the institutional component.
Elsewhere, Western University’s IVEY School of Business issued its Purchasing Managers Index for November Thursday morning, and the PMI faltered slightly to 63.0 in November compared to 63.8 the month before, and 56.8 in November 2016.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 1.52 points early Thursday to 783.66
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups opened in the green, as health-care leaped 1.6%, with information technology and energy each spiking 1%.
The two laggards were utilities, down 0.2%, and real-estate slipping 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ composite kicked off Thursday's session trading higher, led by gains in Broadcom.
The Dow Jones industrials recovered 49.12 to 24,190.03
The S&P 500 inched up 2.37 points to 2,631.46
The NASDAQ added 17.55 points to 6,793.93, and Broadcom shares rose more than 3% after the chip maker reported better-than-expected earnings. The company's bottom line was boosted by strong wireless chip demand.
The tech sector, which is the best performer of the year, had been under pressure recently but has turned in consecutive gains since Tuesday.
The rest of the market, meanwhile, traded slightly lower as investors turned their sights to Washington looking for clues about a tax code overhaul and a potential government shutdown.
Ciena Corporation, Finisar Corporation, and JinkoSolar are among companies issuing earnings today.
Investors are also weighing the possibility of a government shutdown. If lawmakers fail to craft a deal on government spending by the end of the week, the federal government could close until a deal is struck. President Donald Trump said Wednesday a shutdown "could happen."
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained small ground, lowering yields to 2.33% from Wednesday’s 2.34%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 40 cents a barrel to $56.36 U.S.
Gold prices fell $9.70 to $1,256.40 U.S. an ounce.
