Canada's main stock index displayed solid gains on Monday as improvement in health-care and tech shares helped more than offset losses in gold.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gathered more steam, gaining 65.7 points to approach noon at 15,572.01
The Canadian dollar erased 0.16 cents higher to 76.18 cents U.S.
The biggest percentage gainers on the TSX were shares of cannabis firms Aphria, which surged $1.28, or 10.2%, to $13.87, and Cronos Group, which rose $2.50, or 9.2%, to $29.81
Financials also had a good morning, ECN Capital rose three cents to $3.89 after brokerage Cormark Securities raised price target for the company's shares.
IGM Financial fell 49 cents, or 1.5%, to $33.00, after brokerage Desjardins cut its rating on the company's shares to "hold".
Another among the big decliners was gold miner OceanaGold Corp , down 25 cents, or 5.4%, to $4.40.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.04 points to 624.90
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, as health-care muscled up 4.6%, while information technology clicked 1.2% higher, and consumer staples progressed 0.7%.
Only gold missed the festivities, dawdling 0.1% midday.
ON WALLSTREET
Blue chips in New York climbed out of the hole they’d temporarily dug themselves in the morning, and reached green territory by noon hour.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average regained 16.72 points to 25,080.61, as Pfizer and UnitedHealth led the decline.
The S&P 500 recouped 7.31 points to 2,713.84, as the tech sector gained 1.1%
The NASDAQ Composite gained 63.28 points to 7,327.15, as shares of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet all traded higher.
Alphabet and Gilead Sciences are scheduled to report earnings after the close Monday. Disney, General Motors, Viacom and Kellogg are all slated to release their results later this week.
Shares of Clorox rose more than 7% after the company posted a better-than-expected profit. Clorox also reiterated its guidance for 2019 earnings and revenue. Sysco and Alexion Pharmaceuticals also reported stronger-than-forecast earnings. Sysco shares rose 5%. Alexion gained as much as 2.1% before trading 2% lower.
So far, more than 47% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results. Of those companies, 68.5% have topped analyst expectations
Earnings grew by more than 20% in the first three quarters of 2018. So far, fourth-quarter earnings are up by 12.5% on a year-over-year basis.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped sharply, raising yields to 2.73% from Friday’s 2.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.11 to $54.15 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $3.10 to $1,319.00 U.S. an ounce.
