Equities in Canada’s largest centre opened slightly downward on Wednesday, as gains in energy shares amid rising oil prices were counteracted by losses in consumer staples and gold stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dipped 10.89 points to kick off Wednesday’s session at 15,452.25
The Canadian dollar raced ahead 0.33 cents to 75.68 cents U.S.
Canadian National Railway beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, as it transported higher volumes of crude oil and Canadian grain. Meantime, JP Morgan raised price target on the stock to $119.00 from $116.00.
CN shares gave back 68 cents to $109.75.
Morgan Stanley cut the price target on Imperial Oil to $42.00 from $51.00. IMO shares took on 17 cents to $36.77.
CIBC raised the price target on Metro to $48.00 from $45.00. Metro shares collapsed 95 cents, or 2%, to $47.72.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that average weekly earnings of Canadians in non-farm roles came in at $1.012 in November, little changed from the previous month. The agency adds that, compared with 12 months earlier, earnings grew by 2%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hesitated 0.81 points to 614.28
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups stubbed their toes in the first hour, with consumer staples dropping 0.8%, while gold lost 0.7%, and communications dipped 0.6%.
The four gainers were led by energy, up 0.6%, financials, ahead 0.2%, and utilities, eking 0.1% higher.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose sharply on Wednesday as Boeing and Apple surged on the back of their earnings results.
The Dow Jones Industrials skyrocketed 229.95 points to open at 24,809.91, as Boeing and Apple outperformed.
The S&P 500 recovered 11.76 points to 2,651.76, led by the tech and industrials sectors.
The NASDAQ Composite sprang up 49.07 points to 7,077.36
Boeing shares jumped 6.2% after its quarterly earnings easily beat expectations. The aerospace giant also posted annual revenue of more than $100 billion for the first time and gave strong earnings guidance for 2019.
Apple climbed 4.7% after reporting a quarterly profit that barely beat estimates. The company’s overall quarterly revenue topped expectations, but iPhone sales for the quarter came in below estimates. The report comes after the company had slashed its revenue guidance earlier this month, citing a slowdown in China.
AMD shares also surged more than 13% on its quarterly release. Facebook and Microsoft are scheduled to report after the bell Wednesday. Qualcomm and Tesla are also slated to report.
Investors also looked ahead to a key monetary-policy decision from the Federal Reserve. The Fed is largely expected to have kept interest rates unchanged at their latest meeting. However, investors will look for clues regarding the Fed’s plans to roll off its massive balance sheet.
On the data front, U.S. private payrolls grew by 213,000 in January, according to data released by ADP and Moody’s Analytics. Analysts expected a gain of 178,000. The data come ahead of Friday’s non-farm payrolls report.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury lost a bit of turf, raising yields to 2.72% from Tuesday’s 2.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 61 cents to $53.92 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved 90 cents to $1,309.80 U.S. an ounce.
