Stocks in Canada’s largest market moved higher in early trading on Tuesday, with health-care and energy concerns leading the pack.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 61.44 points to begin Tuesday’s trading at 16,392.47
The Canadian dollar inched up cents to 76.73 cents
Once again, health-care stocks ruled the roost Tuesday morning, with Canopy Growth stronger by $1.30, or 2.7%, to $50.32, while rival Aurora Cannabis gained 61cents, or 8%, to $8.22.
BMO raised the price target on Agellan Commercial REIT to $14.75 from $13.25
Agellan units dipped three cents to $14.11.
BMO raised the price target on CAP REIT to $50.00 from $44.00
CAP REIT units acquired 19 cents to $46.96
TD Securities cut the price target on Tahoe Resources to $6.00 from $6.50. Shares in the company were unchanged at $5.00.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade was down 0.8% in June to $63.1 billion, the second time in three months, with sales off in five of seven sub-sectors, accounting for 71% of total wholesale sales.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.66 points to 689.14
All but three of the 12 subgroups were up, with health-care stocks surging 4%, energy ahead 1.2%, and industrials progressing 0.7%.
The three laggards were gold, down 0.3%, while utilities and consumer discretionaries each faded 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday, with the current bull market on track to become the longest in history.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 76.5 points to 25,835.19, with Intel and Caterpillar leading the index.
The S&P 500 moved forward 10.8 points to 2,867.79, led by telecoms and energy.
The NASDAQ strengthened 48.14 points to 7,869.15. Micron and Netflix led the gains.
J.P. Morgan is about to flip the switch on a new digital investing service, taking a bite out of discount online brokerages. The bank's new service "You Invest" will feature a bundle of discounted trading, an online portfolio-building tool and no-fee access to J.P. Morgan's stock research.
After media reports of the bank's new service, shares of Charles Schwab fell 3.4%, TD Ameritrade fell 5.9%, E-Trade fell 4.1% and Interactive Brokers fell 0.3%.
President Donald Trump went after the Federal Reserve once again, saying Monday he disagrees with the Fed's current tightening path for monetary policy. The Fed has already raised rates twice this year and is expected to raise rates two more times. Trump's comments, which weighed on interest rates on Monday, come shortly ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday.
Trump is also reportedly preparing to add tariffs on nearly half of Chinese imports this week. The new round of tariffs would come despite the expectation of restarted negotiations between the two largest economies of the world.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, raising yields to 2.85% from Monday’s 2.82%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.36 at $67.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $2.80 to $1,197.40 U.S. an ounce.
