Equities in Canada’s largest market opened slightly higher on Thursday, as gains in health-care and consumer discretionary stocks offset losses in the energy sector.
The TSX rebounded 45.63 points to kick off Thursday at 19,153.40, after a loss of more than 125 points the session before.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.44 cents at 82.50 cents U.S.
Canadian Tire surpassed analyst estimates for first-quarter revenue, helped by strong online demand for bikes, patio furniture and pool supplies from people stuck at home due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Canadian Tire shares rocketed $16.06, or 8.4%, to $208.50.
Cargojet has threatened to move work to the United States unless it wins exemption from rules aimed at preventing pilot fatigue because of their cost, according to a deal rejected by its pilots.
Cargojet jumped $5.81, or 3.4%, to $178.90.
BMO raised the target price on Intact Financial to $190.00 from $185.00. Intact shares retreated $1.31 to $161.00.
Scotiabank cuts target price on Northland Power to $48.25 from $52.00. Northland picked up 31 cents a share, or 1.3%, to $25.12.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 3.32 points to 914.24.
Eight of the 12 subgroups gained ground in Thursday’s first hour, with consumer discretionary issues soaring 1.7%, health-care haler by 1.6%, and industrials roaring ahead 1%.
The four laggards were weighed most heavily by materials, sinking 0.7%, gold, sagging 0.6%, and information technology off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday, rebounding from steep losses in the previous session as investors picked up major technology shares after the pullback.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered from Wednesday’s bruising, taking on 484 points, or 1.4%, to 34,072.46
The S&P 500 regained 57.23 points, or 1.4%, to 4,118.14,
The NASDAQ restocked 192.03 points, or 1.5%, to 13,223.71, as Apple rebounded 2% and Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook all rose more than 1%.
Bitcoin dropped 9% after Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla would halt car purchases using bitcoin for environmental concerns, a surprising reversal for the crypto-supporter. Coinbase, which just went public on the promise of crypto-trading becoming mainstream, dropped 2% following Musk’s comments.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that the prices American consumers pay for goods and services accelerated at their fastest pace since 2008 last month with the Consumer Price Index spiking 4.2% from a year ago.
Investors largely shook off another hot inflation report on Thursday, with producer prices in April jumping more than 6% from a year go.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys regained lost ground, lowering yields to 1.67% from Wednesday’s 1.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost $1.69 to $64.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $1.80 to $1,821 U.S. an ounce.
