Markets in Toronto bounced higher on Wednesday as heavyweight financial services group cheered signs from U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers that raised expectations for a March rate hike.
The S&P/TSX Composite leaped 169.83 points, or 1%, to greet noon at 15,554.98, after suffering a string of five straight losing sessions.
The Canadian dollar docked 0.1 cents at 75.02 cents U.S.
Financials chugged higher, with Manulife Financial Corp up 2% to $24.21 and Toronto-Dominion Bank advancing 0.9% to $69.08. TD reports quarterly results on Thursday.
National Bank of Canada gained 2.3% to $57.97 after reporting profit that handily beat estimates.
In the materials group, First Quantum Minerals jumped 6% to $14.65 and Teck Resources Ltd advanced 5.5% to $28.02 as copper prices hit a more than one-week high.
Goldcorp fell 1.7% to $20.69 and Kinross Gold lost 2% to $4.59
As expected, the Bank of Canada maintained an overnight rate target at 0.5%. The central bank also announced that the bank rate is correspondingly 0.75% and the deposit rate is 0.25%
Elsewhere on the economic calendar, the seasonally-adjusted Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index registered 54.7 last month, up from 53.5 in January, signaling the strongest improvement in business conditions since November 2014.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange continued negative, however, by 1.02 points, to 816.20
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups remained positive, with health-care sprouting 1.7%, industrials mightier 1.5%, and financials better by 1.4%.
The two laggards were telecoms, down 0.3%, and gold, down 0.2%,
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded sharply higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average climbing above 21,000 for the first time, on the back of President Donald Trump's speech to Congress.
The Dow flew 293.79 points, or 1.4%, to 21,106.03, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains. The 30-stock index first closed above 20,000 on Jan. 25.
The S&P 500 solidified 32.88 points, or 1.4%, to 2,396.52, with financials rising 2.4% to lead advancers.
The NASDAQ added 77.22 points, or 1.3%, to 5,902.66
Trump's speech, which was delivered Tuesday night, was widely praised for its positive tone but lacked specifics about tax reform and deregulation, two key components of the market's post-election rally.
Investors also paid close attention to key economic data, as the probability of the Federal Reserve raising rates surged.
Personal income rose 0.4% in January, topping expectations, while consumer spending slowed. However, the personal consumption expenditures price index jumped 1.9% in the 12 months through January, putting inflation very close to the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.
Construction spending and the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing data is out later this morning, then the Fed's beige book will be released at 2 p.m.
Market expectations for a rate hike this month almost doubled to around 70%, according to experts.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped sharply raising yields to 2.46% from Tuesday’s 2.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eased down 13 cents to $53.88 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $7.30 to $1,246.60 U.S. an ounce.
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