Stocks in Canada’s largest centre hit a record high on Wednesday in a broad rally, boosted by gains for financial stocks, miners, and railways while energy companies weighed.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 55.32 points to greet noon Wednesday at 16,169.35. The index reached as high as 16,166.60 points and was on track for its fifth straight day of gains.
The Canadian dollar eased 0.01 cents to 77.69 cents U.S.
Gold stocks ruled the roost Wednesday morning, though, with Barrick Gold gained 22 cents, or 1.3%, to $17.77, while Goldcorp jumped 34 cents, or 2.2%, to $15.50.
Materials strengthened, with First Quantum Minerals climbing 37 cents, or 2.3%, to $16.53.
Among tech stocks, BlackBerry gained 14 cents, or 1%, to $13.84.
Energy stocks sagged, however, as Suncor retreated 31 cents to $44.55.
Among health-care issues, small marijuana company CannaRoyalty Corp jumped 3.8% to $3.04 after opening exclusive licensing talks with larger company Aurora Cannabis for its consumer-oriented cannabis products. Aurora was down 2.5% at $7.06.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.62 points to 798.33
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive midday, as gold soared 1.4%, materials climbed 1.2%, and information technology gained 1%.
The three laggards were energy, settling 0.8%, health-care, backpedaling 0.5%, and consumer staples, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Wednesday after Congress leaders reportedly reached a tentative agreement on a tax overhaul plan. Investors also awaited the latest monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones industrials tacked 125.8 points onto Tuesday’s record close to 24,630.60, with Caterpillar leading advancers
The S&P 500 added 2.88 points to 2,666.99, also an all-time closing high, with utilities and industrials as the best-performing sectors.
The NASDAQ composite index strengthened 24.3 points to 6,886.61
In corporate news, Finisar shares surged 26% after Apple awarded it $390 million. Finisar makes optical communications components which are used in Apple's iPhone X.
Verizon and AT&T both traded more than 1% lower after T-Mobile announced it bought Layer3 TV and said it plans to launch "a disruptive new TV service." T-Mobile shares traded 1.5% higher.
Caterpillar's stock climbed more than 2% after the company reported strong machine sales for September, October and November.
House and Senate leaders struck a tentative deal to pass sweeping changes to the U.S. tax code. The Associated Press first reported the news, and other outlets later confirmed the report. The plan would likely lower the corporate tax rate. The prospect of lower corporate taxes has been a boon for U.S. stocks this year.
The Fed is widely expected to raise rates by a quarter point. Market expectations for a rate hike were nearly 88% Wednesday morning. The decision is set to be announced Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.
In economic news, the consumer price index — a key metric used to gauge inflation — rose 0.4% last month, as expected. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices rose 0.1%.
Investors also looked to Alabama, where Democrat Doug Jones became the projected winner of the state's Senate election. Jones upset GOP candidate Roy Moore and was set to become the first Democratic senator from Alabama in 25 years.
Jones' win trims the Republican's majority in the Senate to 51-49 and could be an obstacle for the Trump administration as it tries to push forward its business-friendly agenda.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained some ground, lowering yields to 2.39% from Tuesday’s 2.4%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 46 cents a barrel to $56.68 U.S.
Gold prices moved up $6.40 to $1,248.10 U.S. an ounce.
