Equities in Canada’s biggest market rose on Tuesday, its first day of trading in 2022, as energy shares gained on firmer crude oil prices and worries eased around the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The S&P/TSX Composite recovered 165.49 points to begin Tuesday to 21,388.33.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.28 cents to 78.70 cents U.S.
Aurora Cannabis gained 32 cents, or 4.7%, to $7.17, while Cronos Group tallied 17 cents, or 3.4%, to $5.15, and Canopy Growth added 27 cents, or 2.5%, to $11.31.
A U.S. judge on Monday rejected BlackBerry’s bid to dismiss a long-running lawsuit claiming it defrauded shareholders by inflating the success and profitability of its BlackBerry 10 smartphones, and said the class-action case could go to trial this fall.
The company once known as Research in Motion saw its shares gather 18 cents, or 1.5%, to $12.00.
RBC raised the rating on Equitable Group to outperform from sector perform, and cut its target price to $88.00 from $91.00. Equitable shares jumped $2.65, or 3.9%, to $71.56.
Ontario on Monday announced restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus as officials warned of a "tsunami" of new COVID-19 cases in the days and weeks ahead due to the omicron variant.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said its industrial product price index increased 0.8% month over month in November and 18.1% year over year, while its raw materials price index The Raw Materials Price Index was down 1.0% on a monthly basis in November and up 36.2% year over year.
As well, Markit Canada said its manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index registered at 56.5 in December, down from 57.2 in November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 7.86 points to 947.04.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, with energy roaring ahead 4%, financials up 1.9%, and consumer discretionary stocks better by 1.7%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by information technology, off 1.2%, gold faded 1.1%, and real-estate, falling 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 notched extended their gains on Tuesday, after hitting new record closes on the first trading day of 2022.
The blue-chip index leaped 289.19 points to 36,874.25, an intraday record.
The much-broader S&P 500 index popped 13.29 points to 4,809.85, also an intraday record.
The NASDAQ faded 99.47 points at 15,733.33.
Investors this week have been betting the economy could overcome the latest surge in COVID cases and riding momentum from what was a stellar 2021 for the markets.
Energy and economic recovery stocks were among the early gainers, despite the U.S. reporting omicron cases rising above one million Monday. Halliburton shares jumped 5% as crude prices rose and Morgan Stanley upgraded the oil services company.
Bank stocks, which got a lift from the rise in yields Monday, extended their gains Tuesday. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and others rose about 2%. Wells Fargo gained 3%.
Elsewhere, cruise operators continued their rebound, with shares of Carnival Corp and Norwegian Cruise rising roughly 2%. Airline stocks were also higher as part of the reopening trade. American and United Airlines rose about 2%.
Shares of Ford Motor rose more than 8% after the company opened orders this week for its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, which it had previously shut down due to an overwhelming response. The company also announced plans to nearly double its production plan to 150,000 annually.
Under Armour shares gained 1.2% after Baird upgraded the stock, saying it would benefit from a cyclical recovery in earnings.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys plummeted, raising yields to 1.67% from Monday’s 1.63%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices strengthened $1.14 to $77.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up eight dollars to $1,808.10 U.S. an ounce.
