Equities in Canada’s largest centre opened flat on Wednesday, as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates in the face of a global economic slowdown.
The S&P/TSX Composite fell 16.02 points to kick off Wednesday to 16,450.03
The Canadian dollar gained 0.13 cents to 76.18 cents U.S.
The Trump administration said on Tuesday it would lift an Obama-era restriction on the world's biggest undeveloped gold and copper resource owned by Northern Dynasty Minerals, whose stock dived 12 cents, or 10%, to $1.08.
Ontario Power Generation said on Tuesday its unit had entered a deal with affiliates of pipeline company TC Energy to buy three natural gas-fired plants in Ontario for about $2.87 billion. TC shares lost 20 cents to $64.42
RBC raised the target price on Air Canada to $57.00 from $48.00. Shares in the “Maple Leaf airline” took on four cents to $46.73.
CIBC raised the target price on Equitable Group to $100.00 from $97.00. Equitable skyrocketed $9.51, or 11.8%, to $89.99.
CIBC raised the target price on Genworth MI Canada to $48.00 from $46.00. Genworth shares grew $2.90, or 6.4%, to $47.90.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that gross domestic product was up for a third consecutive month in May, rising 0.2%.
The increase was led by a rebound in manufacturing with 13 out of 20 industrial sectors expanding.
The agency’s industrial product price index was down 1.4% in June, driven primarily by lower prices for energy and petroleum products.
Its raw materials price index decreased 5.9% in the same month, mainly due to lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 0.31 points to 593.52
All but three of the 12 Toronto subgroups were negative to start out, as gold slid 0.9%, information technology ducked back 0.8%, and materials faded 0.3%.
The three gainers proved to be energy, ahead of Tuesday’s close by 0.8%, health-care, up 0.4%, and real-estate, inching up 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
Equities rose on Wednesday as Wall Street cheered strong quarterly results from tech giant Apple while awaiting the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy decision.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 56.86 points to 27,254.88
The S&P 500 inched up 1.36 points to 3,014.54
The NASDAQ regained 13.44 points to 8,287.05
Apple reported Tuesday evening earnings per share and revenue for the previous quarter that topped analyst expectations, sending the stock up nearly 5% on Wednesday. The company also issued better-than-expected revenue guidance for the fourth quarter.
General Electric shares also rose 1% before the bell on better-than-expected earnings. The company’s outlook for industrial cash flow also topped estimates.
Nearly 60% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings so far. Of those companies, 76% have posted stronger-than-forecast quarterly profits
The Fed is set to deliver its latest decision on monetary policy at 2 p.m. ET. Chair Jerome Powell is also scheduled to hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Traders were pricing in a 25 basis-point rate cut coming into the meeting. If the Fed cuts rates, it would be its first since the financial crisis more than 10 years ago.
A Fed cut would come amid mixed economic data. U.S. economic growth slowed down to 2.1% in the second quarter. However, that growth rate was better than expected.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.05% from Tuesday’s 2.06%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices added 31 cents to $58.36 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices edged up 70 cents to $1,436.50 U.S. an ounce.
