Stocks in Canada’s largest market edged higher on Wednesday as energy stocks tracked small gains in oil prices, with investors remaining concerned about another round of lockdowns amid a surge in global coronavirus cases.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index acquired 69.46 points to begin Wednesday at 15,664.96.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.29 cents at 73.79 cents U.S.
A federal government source says the country is considering issuing longer-term debt to take advantage of low interest rates, and expects servicing costs to be lower this fiscal than was forecast last year despite the billions in emergency spending due to COVID-19.
PI Financial raised the price target on Jaguar Mining to $0.80 from $0.45. Jaguar shares hiked six cents, or 10%, to 60 cents.
Morgan Stanley raised the target price on MEG Energy to $4.50 from $2.50. MEG shares took on 3.5 cents to $3.815.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jumped 12.68 points, or 2%, to 664.34
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups advanced in the first hour, with gold soaring 2.5%, materials climbing 2.3%, and energy better by 1.3%.
The four laggards were weighed most by communications, down 0.8%, health-care, fading 0.7%, and consumer staples, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Wednesday, led by major tech names, as investors weighed the latest U.S. coronavirus data and its impact on the economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 209.37 points to start Wednesday’s session at 26,099.55.
The S&P 500 picked up 23.52 points to 3,168.84.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ restocked 117.81 points, or 1.1%, to 10,461.37.
Shares of major tech companies such as Apple gained 2%, while Microsoft added 1.7%. Netflix and Alphabet both climbed at least 0.8%.
Names that would benefit from the economy reopening turned around and added to the gains. Carnival Corp, advanced 2.4%, Norwegian Cruise Line tacked on 1.7%, and Royal Caribbean gained 2.3%. Retailer Kohl’s climbed more than 5%.
Wednesday’s move higher comes even as the U.S. reported a record daily spike of more than 60,000 coronavirus cases on Tuesday. That latest surge brought the total number of confirmed U.S. cases to nearly three million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Coronavirus-related deaths have risen to more than 131,000 in the U.S., according to Hopkins.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Tuesday’s 0.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices poked ahead 10 cents to $40.72 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $13.20 to $1,823.10 U.S. an ounce.
