Equities in Canada’s largest market opened higher on Tuesday, boosted by energy companies as price of Brent crude rose to a level last seen in November 2014.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 67.9 points to begin Tuesday at 16,275.22
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.01 cents to 77.22 cents.
As the month-end deadline for North American trade talks nears, Canadian executives who hedge foreign exchange risk have been changing their strategies so their companies can profit from any possible swings in the Canadian dollar.
Canaccord Genuity raised the price target on North American Construction Group to $14.00 from $11.00. North American shares gathered 18 cents, or 1.5%, to $12.38.
Canaccord Genuity cut the target price on Onex Corp. to $108.00 from $111.00. Onex shares tumbled $1.87, or 2%, to $89.63.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.35 points to 713.87 to begin Tuesday.
All but three of the 12 subgroups were higher in the first hour, led by health-care 3.4%, while gold brightened 1.7%, and materials better itself by 1.1%
The three laggards were utilities, down 0.3%, and consumer discretionary and telecom stocks, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities rose on Tuesday as bank stocks got a boost from higher interest rates as the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee began a two-day meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 30.1 points, to 26,592.15, as Wal-Mart outperformed.
The S&P 500 gained 0.69 points to 2,920.06, as energy and financials rose.
The NASDAQ moved downward 5.51 points to 7.987.74, as Apple was under pressure.
Shares of Bank of America rose 0.3%, while J.P. Morgan Chase gained 0.5% and Citigroup picked up 0.7%. Goldman Sachs advanced 0.2% while Morgan Stanley climbed 0.4%.
Apple shares fell 0.2% after Qualcomm accused the tech giant of stealing secrets and giving them to Intel.
The rise in bond yields (see below) comes as the Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day monetary policy meeting, with analysts expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to announce a quarter-point rate hike when it concludes its meeting tomorrow.
The event will be watched closely to see if the central bank provides any signals as to where monetary policy will be heading over the coming months and into next year.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury faded, raising yields to 3.10% from Monday’s 3.08%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 40 cents to $72.48 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $1.80 to $1,206.20 U.S. an ounce.
