Equities in Canada’s largest centre rose on Wednesday as Wall Street stabilized following a rout in the previous session on rate hike fears, while a bounce in oil prices pushed energy stocks higher.
The TSX Composite regained 104.42 points to move into the afternoon session at 19,749.82.
The Canadian dollar eked higher 0.04 cents to 76 cents.
Energy led the parade of gainers, with Headwater Exploration taking on 32 cents, or 5.4%, to $6.25, while Precision Drilling hiked $4.67, or 5.9%, to $84.40.
Health-care also had a banner morning, with Bausch Health Companies zooming 62 cents, or 6.4%, to $10.32.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada told investors July manufacturing dropped 0.9% in July, mainly on lower sales of primary metals and petroleum and coal products industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 4.61 points to 650.54
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups remained higher midday, with energy ballooning 3.3%, health-care haler 1.1%, and gold brighter 0.8%.
The five laggards were weighed most by communications, skidding 0.9%, real-estate, down 0.7%, and consumer staples off 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose slightly Wednesday as investors tried to find their footing after the biggest one-day drop in more than two years.
The Dow Jones Industrials had gained 35.88 points Wednesday noon to 31,140.85
The S&P 500 reclaimed 8.59 points to 3,941.25.
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 56.2 points to 11,689.79.
Merck and Johnson & Johnson each rose more than 2% to lead the Dow, while tech giant Apple gained 1.6%.
The Dow sank more than 1,200 points Tuesday, or nearly 4%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.3%. The NASDAQ Composite dropped 5.2%. It was the biggest one-day slide for all three averages since June 2020.
The market moves came after August’s consumer price index report showed headline inflation rose 0.1% on a monthly basis despite a drop in gas prices.
The hot inflation report left questions over whether stocks could go back to their June lows or fall even further. It also spurred some fears that the Federal Reserve could potentially hike even higher than the 75 basis points markets are pricing in.
Treasury prices gained a bit, lowering yields to 3.40% from Tuesday’s 3.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.
Oil prices surged $2.07 to $89.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped four dollars to $1,713.40 U.S. an ounce.
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