Equity markets in Toronto hit fresh all-time highs on Wednesday, boosted by a jump in shares of BlackBerry after it announced a self-driving deal with China’s Baidu and by sharp gains for several marijuana producers.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 24.55 points to begin Wednesday at 16,334.54
The Canadian dollar slid 0.16 cents to 79.81 cents U.S.
BlackBerry rose 5.4% to $15.83, hitting its highest levels since 2013, after saying that it will provide the foundational operating system for search engine company Baidu’s autonomous vehicle platform, the latest in a string of recent automotive design wins.
Canadian cannabis producers extended sharp rallies as California opened the largest U.S. state market for legal marijuana, with Canada expected to follow by mid-2018. Canopy Growth Corp jumped 6% to $34.32, Aphria was up 5.9% at $21.39 and Aurora Cannabis Inc surged 18% to $13.97.
Canada Goose Holdings, which went public less than a year ago, was last up 2.9% at $40.92 after hitting an all-time high of $41.90.
The energy group gained ground, as oil prices rose to new two-and-a-half year highs. Cenovus Energy was up 3% at $12.55 and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd added 1.2% to $46.30.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International gained 6.7% to $29.07 after announcing it had paid down more of its debt load.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange vaulted 11.6 points, or 1.3%, to open Wednesday at 883.64
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, while health-care stocks improved 3.8%, while energy and information technology each gathered 0.8%
The five laggards were led by materials, down 0.7%, gold, off 0.5%, and telecoms, skidding 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose to all-time highs Wednesday as a gain in chip stocks propelled the tech sector higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average came off their highs of the morning, but still gained 40.96 points to pause for lunch at 24,864.97
The S&P 500 improved 11.55 points to 2,707.36, with tech rising 0.9%. The index also broke above 2,700 for the first time.
The NASDAQ composite index hiked 44.22points to 7,051.12, with Advanced Micro Devices surging more than 6%.
The Register reported there is a security flaw with Intel processors. The report said the issue will require a significant security update of Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems to work around it. AMD shares jumped on the back of the report.
Nvidia's stock climbed 5.2%, following AMD's gains. Intel shares, meanwhile, declined more than 2%
In corporate news, Scana shares popped 23% after Dominion Energy announced it was buying the South Carolina-based utility company for $7.9 billion.
In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index hit 59.7% in December, while construction spending rose 0.8% in November. The Atlanta Federal Reserve raised its fourth-quarter real GDP forecast to 3.2% from 2.8%, citing the strong ISM number.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were up, lowering yields to 2.44% from Tuesday’s 2.46%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices charged ahead $1.10 a barrel to $61.47 U.S.
Gold prices gained $2.70 to $1,318.80 U.S. an ounce.
