Canada's top share index rose on Wednesday, boosted by energy and material stocks, as the Bank of Canada raised interest rates by 50 basis points in a widely anticipated move to combat surging inflation
The TSX Composite Index rumbled into noon hour up 124.45 points to 21,839.86.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.26 cents to 79.40 cents U.S.
Tech stocks proved the top gainers Wednesday morning, with Converge up 48 cents, or 5.5%, to $9.19, while HUT 8 Mining towered 27 cents, or 4.8%, to $5.87.
Consumer staples were pasted, however, as Empire Company lost 69 cents, or 1.5%, to $44.40, while Loblaw dipped $1.81, or 1.5%, to $116.30.
The Bank of Canada increased its target for the overnight rate by half a percentage point to 1%, with the Bank Rate at 1¼% and the deposit rate at 1%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 8.2 points to 889.32.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher heading into the afternoon, with information technology soaring 2.7%, materials strengthening 1.8%%, and gold acquired 1.7%.
The four laggards were weighed most by consumer staples, fading 0.7%, financials down 0.4%, and utilities sank 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials moved skyward 187.97 points to 34,408.33.
The S&P 500 recovered 33.15 points to 4,430.60
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 209.81 points, or 1.6%, to 13,581.39.
BlackRock, Fastenal and Delta Air Lines all traded higher on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results. Delta also got a boost after the airline said it expects to return to profitability this quarter.
Other travel stocks surged as a group on the back of Delta’s higher forecast, which indicated consumers will continue flying this year despite surging inflation. American Airlines soared more than 8%, Southwest Airlines jumped past 6%, Expedia rallied 3.6% and Carnival Corporation jumped nearly 5%.
Chip stocks climbed higher with Nvidia rallying about 3%, Qualcomm jumping past 4%, and Advanced Micro Devices increasing almost 3%. Micron Technology also gained 2%.
To be sure, shares of JPMorgan Chase fell 3% after the banking giant reported a $524-million hit caused by market dislocations due to sanctions against Russia. The bank also posted a 42% decline in first-quarter profits. JPMorgan did manage, however, to report $31.59 billion in revenue for the period, slightly more than expected by analysts.
CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the bank was building up credit reserves because of “higher probabilities of downside risk” to the U.S. economy.
Meanwhile, PayPal shares dropped nearly 4% following an announcement from Walmart, which said Tuesday it hired PayPal executive John Rainey as its new chief financial officer.
On Wednesday, a report showed producer prices — wholesale costs that could eventually lead to higher retail prices — jumped a record 11.2% in March on an annual basis. The monthly gain of 1.4% topped the 1.1% estimate from economists polled by Dow Jones.
Treasury prices gained ground, putting yields back down to 2.67%, from Tuesday’s 2.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved forward $2.28 to $102.88 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $6.90 to $1,983.00 U.S. an ounce.
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