Stocks in Canada’s largest centre picked up some territory at open on Wednesday as investors digested earnings from some of the country's biggest banks, while exercising caution in making riskier bets ahead of a U.S. central bank gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming later this week.
The TSX took on 35.59 points to commence the midweek session at 20,020.94.
The Canadian dollar sank 0.32 cents to 76.84 cents U.S.
Royal Bank reported a drop in third-quarter earnings, due to higher provisions, while National Bank managed to eke out a quarterly profit beat on the back of growth in the lender's personal and commercial banking and financial markets segments.
Shares in RBC docked $3.61, or 2.9%, to $122.88, while shares in National gained 44 cents to $92.77.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange marched ahead 1.78 points to kick off Wednesday at 655.14.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with health-care surging 3.1%, information technology grabbing 1.1%, and energy better by 0.9%.
The three laggards were financials, down 1%, consumer staples off 0.4%, and communications sliding 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were little changed Wednesday as investors awaited more guidance from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the central bank’s fight against inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 30.69 points to begin Wednesday at 32,940.28.
The S&P 500 moved forward 9.05 points to 4,137.78.
The NASDAQ Composite surged 50.1 points to 12,431.40.
Intuit was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500, up 5.6%, following a strong earnings report. Advanced Auto Parts was the worst-performing stock, down 9.6%, after missing earnings expectations and lowering its full-year guidance.
Peloton Interactive shares jumped 8% in premarket trading after the exercise equipment maker struck a deal to sell its products on Amazon.
Peloton is looking to broaden its customer base as it deals with a loss of investor confidence. Shares of Peloton are down roughly 70% this year, and about 90% off its 52-week high.
The three-day Jackson Hole economic symposium starts Thursday with Powell slated to speak Friday morning. Fed watchers expect him to reinforce the central bank’s goal of squashing inflation and keeping expectations about future price gains in check.
Treasury prices lost ground, lifting yields to 3.10% from Tuesday’s 3.06%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.
Oil prices inched up 50 cents to $94.24 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid one dollar to $1,760.20 U.S. an ounce.
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