Canada's main stock index opened little changed on Wednesday, hovering near record levels, as losses in commodity price-linked energy and mining sectors offset gains in health-care shares.
The TSX Composite Index squeezed higher 4.71 points to open Wednesday at 17,040.59
The Canadian dollar slid 0.03 cents to 75.34 cents U.S.
The Bank of Canada is reportedly now expected to hold rates through to the end of next year, according to a slim majority of economists, with forecasts on whether or not the central bank holds or cuts sitting on a knife's edge through 2020.
Canada's longest railroad strike in a decade ended on Tuesday as Canadian National Railway reached a tentative agreement with its union, but shippers warned it could take weeks before service bounces back to normal.
CN shares took on 50 cents to $122.99.
Alimentation Couche-Tard missed quarterly revenue estimates on Tuesday, as the Canadian convenience store operator's fuel business was hit by lower selling prices. Couche-Tard dropped 19 cents, to $43.15.
RBC cut the price target on Bank of Nova Scotia to $78 from $80. Scotiabank lost four cents to $75.14.
Canaccord Genuity raised the price target on Calian Group to $45 from $40. Calian docked 73 cents, or 1.8%, to $38.87.
National Bank of Canada raises the price target on Lundin Mining to $8.75 from $8.50. Lundin shares advanced 14 cents, or 1.9%, to $7.47.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.2 points to 531.53
All but three of the 12 Toronto subgroups were higher in the first hour, with health-care better by 1.1%, consumer discretionary growing 0.5%, and information technology climbing 0.4%.
The three laggards proved to be gold, down 0.7%, while energy and materials each faded 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose slightly on Wednesday, building on their record-setting run after the release of stronger-than-forecast economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials let go of 8.09 points from Tuesday’s all-time record, at 28,113.59.
The S&P 500 added 4.62 points to 3,145.05 to Tuesday’s record.
The NASDAQ added 24.03 points to 8,671.97, improving on Tuesday’s all-time peak. The averages were on track to post their fourth straight gain.
The Dow has gained 4.3%, and S&P 500 is up 3.9%, over the past month in that time, while the NASDAQ is up nearly 5%.
Wednesday’s moves come ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday for which the market will be closed on Thursday. Typically, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving has been a good day for stocks. Data from the Stock Trader’s Almanac shows the Dow has only declined 16 times in the past 66 years the day before the holiday.
Apple and Facebook contributed to Wednesday’s gains, Apple rising 0.6% and Facebook ahead 0.5%.
Durable goods orders rose 0.6% in October while economists expected a decline of 0.8%. Weekly jobless claims, meanwhile, fell to 213,000 from 227,000. Third-quarter GDP was revised to show growth of 2.1%. That’s up from a previous reading of 1.9%.
The strong data comes ahead of the Federal Reserve releasing its Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions, also known as the Beige Book, at 2 p.m.
The commentary offers insight on the state of the world’s largest economy and a look into how the Fed views its monetary policy stance. The Fed has lowered rates three times this year and has indicated it will likely keep rates at current levels for the foreseeable future.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury docked strength, raising yields to 1.77% from Tuesday’s 1.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were unchanged at $58.41 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sliced off $6.40 to $1,461.00 U.S. an ounce.
