Stocks in Toronto came off their highs of the day, but stayed solid by Tuesday’s closing bell, riding the strength of real-estate and utility stocks
The TSX remained afloat 71.13 points to conclude Tuesday at 16,431.27.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.07 cents to 75.82 cents U.S.
In the real-estate sector, Brookfield Property Partners chugged ahead 69 cents, or 4.8%, to $14.94, while FirstService flew $7.04, or 4.2%, to $176.22.
Utilities also scored big, on the shoulders of Northland Power, up $1.78, or 5%, to $37.42, while Innergex Renewable Energy, ahead 73 cents, or 3.3%, to $22.76.
In the telecom field, Quebecor jumped $1.25, or 3.5%, to $34.21, while Shaw Communications hopped 35 cents, or 1.4%, to $25.05.
Energy issues fell short, though, as Husky Energy dropped six cents, or 1.6%, to $3.60, while Parex Resources went south 18 cents, or 1.2%, to $15.36.
Golds also languished, as Alamos Gold settled back 13 cents, or 1.1%, to $13.23, and Lundin Gold dipped 14 cents, or 1.2%, to $11.75.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported manufacturing sales increased for the third consecutive month, rising 7.0% to $53.1 billion in July.
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported Tuesday home sales recorded over Canadian MLS Systems increased a further 6.2% in August, raising them to another new all-time monthly record. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 33.5% year-over-year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 0.18 points to 741.91.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, with real-estate rallying 1.7%, while utilities surged 1.5%, and communications prospered 1.2%.
The two laggards were energy, down 0.5%, and gold, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Tuesday, building on the strong performance from the previous session, on the back of broad market gains and solid economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave back most of what it had gained on the day, finished up only 2.27 points to 27,995.60.
The S&P 500 hung onto 17.66 points worth of gains to 3,401.20.
The NASDAQ progressed 133.67 points, or 1.2%, to 11,190.32, continuing its climb out of the dungeon following the index’s worst week since March.
Microsoft jumped 1.6%. Amazon rose 1.7% along with Alphabet. Netflix gained 4.1% and Facebook closed higher by 2.4%. Tesla shares, meanwhile, popped 7.2% after surging more than 12% on Monday. Those sharp moves higher come after a sharp selloff in Big Tech last week, which pressured the broader market.
Other parts of the market participated in Tuesday’s move higher. The S&P 500 real estate prospered 1.4%, and utilities were up 0.7%. Materials, industrials and health care were also higher.
Sentiment was boosted on Monday by positive news on the vaccine front, with AstraZeneca resuming its phase three trial in the United Kingdom and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla saying over the weekend the company should be able to present key data from its trial to regulators by the end of October.
Optimism about the United States getting a better handle on the virus was a major reason that LPL Financial raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 to a range of 3,450–3,500 on Monday, according to equity strategists. That target implies an upside of roughly 2% for the market over the rest of the year.
Stocks also got a boost after China reported its first retail sales increase for the year. The country’s National Bureau of Statistics said Chinese retail sales rose 0.5% in August.
In the U.S., the Empire State Manufacturing index came in at 17 for September, rebounding from a print of 3.7 in August. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the index to come in at 7.
Traders also looked ahead to the Federal Reserve concluding its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were lower, raising yields to 0.68% from Monday’s 0.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices increased $1.06 to $38.32 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $1.30 to $1,962.40 U.S. an ounce.
