Canada's main stock index opened higher on Tuesday, lifted by energy stocks which were supported by oil prices recovering from their biggest tumble of the year.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index picked up where it left off Monday, gaining 35.36 points Tuesday to 16,092.39
The Canadian dollar fell 0.19 cents at 75.64 cents U.S.
Bank of Nova Scotia reported a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit on Tuesday, hurt by higher non-interest expenses and lower income from its domestic business.
Scotiabank shares docked $2.27, or 3%, to $73.15.
Bank of Montreal reported a 10% increase in first quarter earnings, benefiting from a strong performance at its personal & commercial banking business in the United States.
BMO shares gained $1.33, or 1.3%, to $100.51.
Thomson Reuters on Tuesday reported a 9% rise in quarterly revenue, stripping out the impact of currency, helped by higher sales at its Legal and Tax & Accounting businesses.
Thomson shares shot up $3.53, or 5.1%, to $73.24.
RBC raised the price target on Alimentation Couche-Tard to $86.00 from $80.00. The convenience store chain gained $1.29, or 1.8%, to $74.38.
RBC raised the price target on George Weston to $139.00 from $138.00. Weston shares doffed $3.02, or 3.2%, to $92.35.
CIBC cut the rating on Trevali Mining to neutral from outperform. Trevali shares fell a penny, or 2.6%, to 37 cents.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged up 0.52 points to 624.25
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups got off on the right foot, with health-care surging 1.3%, energy better by 0.9%, and consumer staples 0.3% to the good.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by information technology, sagging 0.3%, while financials and gold each dipped 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks pared earlier losses on Tuesday as better-than-expected consumer confidence numbers offset weak Home Depot earnings and a big drop in housing starts.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 80.52 points to 26,011.43,
The S&P 500 inched up 0.3 points to 2,796.41
The NASDAQ Composite gained 2.51 points to 7,556.97
Equities initially fell after Home Depot reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $2.09 a share, below an expected profit of $2.16. The home improvement company also issued weaker-than-expected guidance for 2019. Those results sent Home Depot shares down more than 2%.
Home Depot's results were followed by weaker-than-expected housing starts data. Data released by the Commerce Department showed housing starts fell 11.2% in December and reached their lowest level since September 2016.
Caterpillar dropped 2.6% after UBS cut its rating on the industrial giant to sell from buy. UBS also slashed its 12-month price target on Caterpillar to $125 per share from $154, implying an 11.6% downside from Monday's close of $141.41. UBS cited slowing demand in global construction as the main reason for the downgrade. Caterpillar is largely seen as a bellwether for global growth.
Consumer confidence surged to 131.4 in February, easily topping an estimate of 124. In January, consumer confidence was at 121.7.
Home prices also rose in December at their slowest pace August 2015, the S&P Case-Shiller index showed.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.65% from Monday’s 2.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up 23 cents to $55.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $1.60 to $1,327.90 U.S. an ounce.
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