Equities in Canada’s largest centre rose in early trade on Tuesday, boosted by gains for gold miners and banks as the price of gold jumped and oil steadied.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index continued its momentum, acquiring 66.49 points at the opening to 13,786.31
The Canadian dollar leaped 0.7 cents to 78.91 cents U.S.
Analysts say Valeant Pharmaceuticals is considering a multi-billion-dollar auction to pare down $30 billion in debt, and so, its challenge will be choosing which assets to sell without compromising any of its key businesses.
Meantime, the troubled drug maker saw its shares catapult $1.41, or 3.3%, to $44.03.
Rogers Communications Inc spent heavily to get smartphones to its wireless customers and could not add enough Internet business to offset shrinkage of its television and landline phone business, contributing to a slip in earnings reported on Monday.
Rogers shares lost 75 cents, or 1.5%, to $49.45.
CLSA cut the rating on Teck Resources to sell from underperform.
Teck shares screamed higher 63 cents, or 5.1%, to $12.93.
Gold and materials issues also fared well, as Kinross Gold climbed 27 cents, or 4.9%, to $5.79, while rival Barrick Gold jumped 53 cents, or 2.6%, to $20.78.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange continued on the march, adding 6.35 points to 644.69
All but three of the 13 TSX subgroups made headway, as metals and mining strengthened 4.9%, materials hiked 2.5%, and gold shone 2.4% brighter.
The three laggards proved to be telecoms, down 0.7%, information technology, off 0.5%, and consumer staples, lagging 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly higher Tuesday, as oil prices held steady amid some major earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained another 89.26 points to 18,093.42, after yesterday’s 100-point-plus gain. UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson contributed the most to gains in the Dow, while IBM dropped about 50 points off the index as the biggest laggard
The S&P 500 gained 7.31 points to 2,101.65, topping the psychologically key 2,100 level in intraday trade for the first time since December 2, 2015. Materials rose more than 1% to lead advancers, followed by financials.
The NASDAQ index faded 3.17 points to 4,956.84, as shares of Illumina fell more than 22% and Netflix traded more than 9% lower.
All three major averages ended Monday at their highest level of the year so far, with energy stocks leading as oil prices recovered from sharp losses.
Goldman Sachs reported first-quarter earnings that topped lowered Wall Street expectations, but marked a fourth-straight quarter of profit declines as market volatility hit the company's bond trading and investment banking businesses. Revenue plunged about 40%
from the year-ago period and missed estimates.
After the close Monday, IBM posted results that beat on both the top and bottom line. However, revenue continued to fall and the firm did not raise its full-year guidance.
Netflix also disappointed with lower-than-expected subscriber growth for the second quarter.
Intel and Yahoo are scheduled to report on Tuesday. Early morning reports included Johnson & Johnson, which posted quarterly earnings that beat, while revenue matched forecasts. The firm raised its full-year forecast.
UnitedHealth reported earnings that beat on both the top and bottom line, and raised its full-year forecast.
U.S. economic news featured housing starts, which fell a more-than-expected 8.8% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.09 million units, the lowest level since October, according to the Commerce Department.
Moreover, building permits dropped 7.7% to a 1.09-million-unit rate last month, the lowest level since March last year.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury faded, driving yields up to 1.79% from Monday’s 1.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 50 cents a barrel to $40.28 U.S.
Gold prices popped $22.58 to $1,255.07 U.S. an ounce.
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