Stocks in Toronto staged a mini-comeback Thursday, after several days of miserable losses, as health-care pulled itself out of the ashes of earlier in the week.
The TSX Composite Index gained 58.06 points to end Thursday at 16,369.03
The Canadian dollar notched lower 0.03 cents at 74.98 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks triumphed, as Aurora Cannabis hiked 44 cents, or 7.9%, to $6.00, and Canopy Growth leaped $1.66, or 5.7%, to $30.99
Tech stocks had some spring, too, as Shopify galloped $21.48, or 5.2%, to $434.45, while Constellation Software clicked $14.28 higher, or 1.1%, to $1,325. 24
In real estate, units of Killam Apartment REIT picked up 63 cents, or 3.2%, to $20.49, while Cominar REIT added 26 cents, or 2%, to $13.24.
On the other side, consumer discretionary took a pasting Thursday, as Linamar stumbled $4.12, or 10.1%, to $36.85, while Martinrea International was punished 41 cents, or 3.9%, to $10.18.
Among materials, Endeavour Mining dropped $1.03, or 4.1%, to $24.40, while Nutrien lost 94 cents, or 1.4%, to $64.62.
Financials were drubbed, too, as IGM Financial backpedaled 49 cents, or 1.3%, to $36.13, while CI Financial lost 16 cents, to $18.52
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 2.94 points to 557.78
Eight of the 12 Toronto subgroups were positive on the day, with health-care screaming higher 4.3%, information technology better 1.6%, and real-estate up 0.9%.
The four laggards were weighed most by consumer discretionary and materials stocks, down 0.3% each, while financials skidded 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Thursday, recovering some of the losses from a steep two-day selloff amid increasing expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates later this month.
The Dow Jones Industrials pulled out of triple-digit losses in the morning to gain 122.42 points, and close Thursday at 26,201.04.
The S&P 500 regained 23.02 points to 2,910.63
The NASDAQ Composite resuscitated 87.02 points, or 1.1%, to 7,872.27, after falling as much as 1.1%
Tech stocks led the way higher. Facebook rose 2.7% as fellow "FANG" stock such as Alphabet and Amazon gained 1% and 0.7%, respectively. Apple closed 0.9% higher.
Despite Thursday’s slight gains, the major averages were headed for their third straight weekly loss. The S&P 500 is down 1.7% week to date while the Dow has lost 2.3%. The NASDAQ was headed for a 0.9% decline for the week. That could change, however, on Friday after the U.S. government releases the latest monthly jobs report.
The Institute for Supply Management said its reading on the U.S. services sector fell last month to its lowest level since August 2016. The ISM non-manufacturing index came in at 52.6 for September. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a print of 55.3.
Earlier this week, ISM posted its weakest reading on the manufacturing sector in more than 10 years, sparking fears of an economic recession.
However, the probability of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month increased following the ISM’s report release. Expectations for an October rate cut jumped to 93.5% from 77% on Wednesday.
The Fed is scheduled to meet at the end of the month. Last month, the central bank cut rates for the second time in 2019.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury shot sharply higher, lowering yields to 1.54% from Wednesday’s 1.59%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 52 cents to $52.12 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $5.90 to $1,513.80 U.S. an ounce.
