Equity markets in Canada’s largest centre rose midday Wednesday as the country's top trade negotiator continued talks to preserve a three-nation North American Free Trade Agreement pact following Monday's deal.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index had sprinted 71.9 points to greet noon Wednesday at 16,427.44
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.12 cents to 77.23 cents
Cannabis stocks gained after Tilray Inc reported quarterly results for first time as publicly traded company. Tilray, with his head offices in B.C., traded on the NASDAQ stronger by $9.57, or 18.6%, to $61.07.
Aurora Cannabis strengthened 48 cents, or 5.6%, to $9.02, Aphria Inc rose $1.12, or 7.7%, to $15.67, and Canopy Growth heightened $2.89, or 5.2%, to $58.79, and together, were the most heavily traded shares by volume on TSX.
Among financial giants, Bank of Nova Scotia deducted 76 cents, or 1%, to $76.13, while Fairfax Financial leaped $4.48 to $712.50.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was auto parts maker Martinrea International, which jumped 36 cents, or 2.6%, to $14.32.
Eldorado Gold floundered in the early going, but recovered about half a cent to $1.31. Bausch Health Co, was down 16 cents to $30.22.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 7.71 points, or 1.1%, to 724.50
All but two of the 12 subgroups were higher as the morning drew to a close, as health-care popped 3.3%, information technology clicked 1.1% higher, energy was 0.8% to the good.
The two laggards were utilities, down 0.2%, and real-estate, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
A rally in tech stocks led the NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 to record highs, with Amazon, Alphabet and Apple leading the gains. Investor sentiment was also boosted by a resumption of U.S.-Canada trade talks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered 77.31 points to 26,141.33, as Apple rose 1% to an all-time high.
The S&P 500 gathered 14.36 points to 2,911.88,
The NASDAQ grew 63.69 points to 8,093.73
Amazon shares rose 2.3% to a record after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock, predicting a $1.2-trillion valuation for the company. Analyst Brian Nowak said Amazon's advertising, subscription and cloud businesses "will drive higher profitability and continued upward estimate revisions."
Shares of Google-parent Alphabet gained 1.5% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock, making it the highest on Wall Street. The analysts cited Waymo, the company's self-driving auto unit, as the big upside catalyst for the stock.
The U.S. economy grew at a stronger pace in the second quarter than previously thought. The Commerce Department raised its second-quarter economy growth estimate to 4.2% from an initial forecast of 4.1%.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland rejoined the North American Free Trade Agreement talks on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. and Mexico announced they had struck a bilateral trade deal. Freeland told reporters that Mexico's "difficult" concessions to the States earlier this week would help lead the way for productive discussions between the three countries this week.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, raising yields to 2.89% from Tuesday’s 2.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 69 cents to $69.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $4.60 to $1,209.80
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