Canada's main stock index opened higher on Wednesday after the domestic annual inflation rate in November dropped below the Bank of Canada's 2% target for the first time in 10 months, underscoring market expectations that imminent interest rate hikes are off the table.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index spiked 115.14 points to start Wednesday at 14,532.03
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.15 cents to 74.45 U.S.
Canada's biggest grain handler, Richardson International, said on Tuesday that it had agreed to buy Wesson, a retail brand of canola and vegetable oils, from Conagra Brands.
CIBC cut the rating on Neo Performance Materials to neutral from outperform. Neo shares
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that the Consumer Price Index rose 1.7% on a year-over-year basis in November, following a 2.4% increase in October. Monthly CPI declined 0.2% in November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.93 points to 546.08
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, with materials gaining 1.9%, while energy and gold each acquired 1.3%.
The four laggards were led by utilities, down 0.8%, health-care, falling back 0.7%, and real-estate, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose Wednesday morning as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy decision.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 211.79 points to 23,887.43, as gains in Boeing and Caterpillar offset losses in American Express and Johnson & Johnson.
The S&P 500 gained 22.48 points to 2,568.64, as communication services and materials each rose at least 1%.
The NASDAQ acquired 68.61 points, or 1%, to 6,852.52, as Alphabet and Netflix each rose at least 2%. Amazon rose 1.4%.
General Mills and Herman Miller are among the companies announcing earnings Wednesday.
The central bank will release its decision on interest rates at 2:00 p.m. ET, and many market participants said that they anticipate the Fed to signal that it will slow the pace of further increases to the federal funds rate in 2019.
The Fed is viewed as likely to take the fed funds rate range to 2.25 to 2.50 percent and to remove language in its post-meeting statement that says it will continue with "gradual" rate increases.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury grew slightly, lowering yields to 2.82% from Tuesday’s 2.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices picked up $1.07 to $47.31 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $7.50 to $1,261.10 U.S. an ounce.
