TSX Enjoys Triple-Digit Gains

(CORRECTS TSX VENTURE CLOSE)

Stocks in Toronto battled yet again to positive ratings Wednesday, endeavouring to catch up to where they were late last week before a thousand-point-plus crumble.

The TSX zoomed 182.95 points to close Wednesday at 32,571.55.

The Canadian dollar scaled back 0.16 cents at 73.16 cents U.S.

Suncor Energy beat fourth-quarter profit estimates on Tuesday as higher production helped offset the impact of weak commodity prices.
Suncor shares gave up earlier gains and lost 85 cents, or 1.2%, to $72.00.

Among other individual movers, ATS climbed $2.49, or 6.4%, to $41.22 after the industrial automation firm's third-quarter revenue beat estimates.

Property management firm FirstService rose $14.90, or 7.1%, to $225.61, after fourth-quarter revenue slightly beat estimates. Elsewhere in real-estate, Colliers International leaped $9.02, or 5.2%, to $183.47.

Consumer discretionary stocks were among the leaders, with PET Valu Holdings ahead $1.43, or 5.2%, to $28.93, while Dollarama hiked $7.66, or 4.1%, to $195.31.

In consumer staples, Alimentation Couche-Tard jumped $3.60, or 4.8%, to $79.34, while North West Company collected $1.63, or 3.2%, to $52.57.

In materials, First Quantum Minerals ducked $3.02, or 7.4%, to $37.47, while Ivanhoe Mines dipped 96 cents, or 5.2%, to $17.66.

In tech shares, Bitfarms lost 38 cents, or 12%, to $2.78, while Celestica tumbled $29.04, or 7.2%, to $376.51.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange dumped 14.24 points, or 1.4%, to 1,038.48.

All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher Wednesday, led by consumer discretionary stocks, better by 3.4%, consumer staples, up 3%, and real-estate, increasing 2.8%.

The two laggards were materials and information technology, each down 0.4%.

ON WALLSTREET

The S&P 500 fell on Wednesday as traders continued to move out of technology stocks and digested the latest labor market data.

The Dow Jones Industrials vaulted 260.31 points to 49,501.30.

The much broader index sagged 35.09 points to 6,882.72

The NASDAQ stumbled 350.61 points, or 1.5%. to 22,904.58

Shares of AMD weighed on the broader market, pulling back 16% after its first-quarter forecast underwhelmed some analysts.

Defending the results, CEO Lisa Su told reporters Wednesday that the company has seen an increase in demand in recent months, saying, “AI is accelerating at a pace that I would not have imagined.”

Still, other names in the chips space such as Broadcom and Micron Technology suffered losses as well. The former was down 3%, while the latter fell 9%.

Some software stocks also continued to face pressure, including Oracle and CrowdStrike, which extended their decline from the prior trading day. Oracle shed 4%, while CrowdStrike lost more than 1%. While the group has been a source of weakness recently, certain names like Microsoft found stability Wednesday. That stock was up 1%.

For the Dow, Amgen was among the names fueling outperformance. The biotechnology stock was higher by 8% after the company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter.

Honeywell also offered a boost to the index, rising more than 1% as investors moved from tech into more value-oriented names.

Meanwhile, ADP on Wednesday released its monthly look at private payroll growth for January, which showed an increase of just 22,000 on the month. That’s below the gain of 45,000 jobs that economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast.

The release generally precedes the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on nonfarm payrolls, but that won’t be out this week due to the partial government shutdown. The shutdown, which began Saturday, officially ended Tuesday, when President Donald Trump signed a funding bill into law.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury nicked lower, raising yields to 4.28% from Tuesday’s 4.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices gained $1.10 to $64.31 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices leaped $28.50 to $4,963.50 U.S. an ounce.

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