Equities made headway midday Tuesday, as higher oil prices supported energy concerns while financial sector stocks also advanced, offsetting deep losses for one of the country's major railway stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index popped 52.42 points to move into noon hour at 13,848.41
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.4 cents to 79.28 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index included Canadian Natural Resources, which rose 1.2% to $38.63, and TransCanada Corp, which advanced 1.5% to $51.57.
The shares of Teck Resources rose 1.8% to $13.30. The miner reported a surprise quarterly profit as cost-cutting measures and a weak Canadian dollar helped cushion the impact of lower coal and copper prices.
Bombardier rose 7.8% to $1.94. The aircraft maker said a unit of Nova Scotia-based Chorus Aviation Inc had signed an agreement to buy five CRJ900 aircraft with an option to buy an additional five.
Thomson Reuters Corp rose more than 2% to $52.86 after it reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on improved results in its main business of providing news and analytics to financial companies.
Shares of Canadian National Railway Co fell 6.2%to $77.63. On Monday, CN lowered its full-year earnings forecast, citing weaker-than-expected freight demand in some markets and a strengthening Canadian dollar.
Husky Energy hurtled lower nearly 6% to $16.50. The oil and gas producer reported a first-quarter loss on Monday and said it has agreed to sell a partial interest in a package of Canadian midstream energy assets to two Hong Kong-based firms for $1.7 billion in cash.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.6 points Tuesday to 652.54
All but two of the 13 TSX subgroups were positive by noon hour, with metals and mining powering ahead 2.6%, while energy and gold stocks each soared 1.4%.
The only two laggards were industrials, down 1.1%, and health-care, which sagged 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Equities on the other side of the border traded in a range Tuesday, amid gains in oil prices, ahead of major central bank meetings and earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 18.08 points to 17,995.32, with Chevron and DuPont contributing the most to gains. 3M was the greatest contributor to declines.
The S&P 500 stayed afloat 3.23 points to 2,091.02, with energy leading six sectors higher and health care the greatest laggard.
The NASDAQ Composite Index, on the other hand, went south 1.48 points to 4,894.30, weighed by declines in major tech stocks such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and Alphabet. Apple traded about 0.5% lower ahead of its earnings report due after the close
3M reported earnings that beat on both the top and bottom line, helped by increased profit margins. However, net sales fell 2.2% from the same period last year. The firm maintained its guidance for the year.
DuPont late Monday reported earnings that topped expectations and raised its forecast for 2016, citing a weakening of the dollar against "most currencies," Reuters said. The firm said Tuesday it expected the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to complete the review of DuPont's proposed merger with Dow Chemical by the end of June.
Procter & Gamble reported better-than-expected earnings but revenue that missed, falling for a seventh-straight quarter, according to Reuters. The firm now estimates a decline of 3% to 6% in earnings per share for the fiscal year, versus a fall of 3% to 8% previously.
The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to kick off its two-day meeting Tuesday and release its statement on monetary policy Wednesday afternoon. No move on rates is expected, but investors will parse the statement for clues on the timing of the next hike.
In economic news, durable goods orders rose a less-than-expected 0.8% in March after a downwardly revised 3.1% decline in February.
Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, were unchanged after a downwardly revised 2.7% decline in the prior month. Reuters reported these so-called core capital goods orders were previously reported to have decreased 2.5% in February.
Shipments of core capital goods — used to calculate equipment spending in the gross domestic product report — rose 0.3% after slumping 1.8% in February
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite's year-over-year gain was 5.4% in February, down from 5.7% the prior month.
The flash Markit services PMI rose to 52.1 in April from 51.3 last month. Consumer confidence for April was 94.2.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, lifting yields to 1.93% from Monday’s 1.91%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.14 a barrel to $43.78 U.S.
Gold prices added $4.16 to $1,242.13 U.S. an ounce.
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