Equities in Canada’s largest market rose in early trading on Monday as hopes of a stimulus-led economic rebound offset worries about a resurgence in global coronavirus cases.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index moved higher 167.39 points to begin Monday and the week at 15,764.14.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.09 cents at 73.88 cents U.S.
Britain's Cineworld said it plans to make a counter-claim against Cineplex for damages and losses following a failed acquisition. Cineplex, for its part, gained 31 cents, or 3.7%, to $8.81.
Evercore ISI cut the target price on Precision Drilling to $1.00 from $1.25. Precision shares were unchanged at 99 cents.
Evercore also cut the target price on Ensign Energy Services to $0.50 from $1.00. Ensign gained a penny, or 1%, to $1.01
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange continued its march upward, adding 9.9 points, or 1.6%, to 642.92.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups made headway in the first hour, with energy gushing 2.2%, health-care up 2%, materials better by 1.9%.
The two laggards were consumer staples and communications, each fading 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks traded sharply higher on Monday as Wall Street tried to build on the momentum from last week’s solid performance and shake off a continued rise in coronavirus cases.
The Dow Jones Industrials roared ahead 341.38 points, or 1.3%, to start Monday at 26,168.84.
The S&P 500 gained 40.85 points, or 1.3%, to 3,171.27.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 186.87 points, or 1.8%, to 10,394, yet another new record high.
Stocks closely tied to an economic reopening gained on Monday. Carnival Corp took flight 1.8%, and Royal Caribbean jumped 3.5%. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines gained more than 2% each. Shares of retailer Gap were higher as well.
Deal making also boosted sentiment. Warren Buffett made his first major deal amid the market turmoil this year, with Berkshire Hathaway buying the natural gas transmission and storage assets from Dominion Energy for about $10 billion including debt. Dominion Energy fell 4%, while Berkshire shares gained almost 2%. Uber shares gained 4.1% after it said it was buying food-delivery app Postmates in an all-stock deal worth $2.65 billion.
The biggest technology companies also led the gains with Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet all climbing more than 0.8%. The NASDAQ-100 — which is made up of the composite’s 100-largest non-financial stocks — jumped 1.7% on Monday, bringing its 2020 gains to more than 20%.
Data from the Institute for Supply Management showed a surprise expansion in the U.S. services sector. The firm’s non-manufacturing index rose to 57.1 in June, topping a Dow Jones estimate of 50.1.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury lost ground, raising yields to 0.70% from Thursday’s 0.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eked ahead three cents to $40.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $3.80 to $1,793.80 U.S. an ounce.
