Markets in Canada’s largest centre remained cautious by noon Wednesday, as losses in industrials were partially offset by strength in tech and communications.
The TSX hung tenaciously onto 14.6 points to pause for lunch Wednesday at 20,454.47.
The Canadian dollar stepped back 0.02 cents to 73.41 cents U.S.
In the tech arena, Bitfarms jumped 17 cents, or 11.7%, to $!.62, while HUT 8 Mining attached 20 cents, or 8.6%, to $2.54.
In communications, Rogers rocketed $2.17, or 3.4%, to $66.81, while TELUS raced 27 cents, or 1%, to $28.78.
Industrials pulled things back a bit, as TFI International lost $15.66, or 10%, to $141.15, while Bombardier handed over $2.30, or 3.4%, to $65.11.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange settled 1.12 points to 602.66.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were in positive territory, with information technology soaring 1.4%, communications, ahead 1.3%. and consumer discretionary stocks up 0.7%.
The five laggards were weighed most by industrials, off 1.1%, while energy and health-care slid 0.7% each.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite advanced Wednesday as investors cheered the first crop of Big Tech earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrials dipped 35.37 points to 33,495.26.
The S&P 500 gained 10.28 points to 4,081.91.
The technology-based index recovered 141.16 points, or 1.1%, to 11,940.32.
Microsoft climbed more than 7% to trade at its highest point this year after beating Wall Street’s expectations on the top and bottom lines in its latest quarter. Alphabet shares were up more than 1.5% after the Google parent also posted better-than-anticipated earnings.
Microsoft also said it saw a big jump in revenue from its Intelligent Cloud business segment. Amazon rose nearly 3% as some market participants grew hopeful that the e-commerce giant’s cloud business could also show strong revenue growth when reporting earnings Thursday.
Elsewhere, Chipotle shares jumped more than 14% to an all-time high on the back of strong earnings.
But First Republic Bank slid more than 20% after falling almost 50% on Tuesday. The regional bank said late Monday that its deposits dropped 40% to $104.5 billion in the first quarter.
Investors will remain focused on tech with Meta Platforms slated to report post-bell on Wednesday. Mattel and eBay are also expected to report after the market closes.
Demand for long-lasting goods like appliances and computers was higher than economists expected in March, according to data released Wednesday morning, in a sign that the economy is showing resilience. This data point comes ahead of the latest GDP update slated for Thursday and the big Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index — the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge — on Friday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were lower, raising yields to 3.42% from Tuesday’s 3.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 17 cents to $76.90 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $3.10 to $2,007.60 U.S. an ounce.
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