Stocks in Toronto continued in plus territory as morning became afternoon Wednesday, lifted most by energy and industrial stocks.
The TSX jumped 191.29 points, or 1%, to pause for lunch Wednesday at 19,163.97.
The Canadian dollar eased 0.18 cents to 77.65 cents U.S.
Energy stocks rumbled ahead, Athabasca Oil posting the sharpest gains of 13 cents, or 5.9%, to $2.32, while Tamarack Valley Energy picked u 18 cents, or 4.3%, to $4.35.
Among industrials, CN Rail raced $5.62, or 3.7% to $156.23, while Cargojet triumphed $4.10, or 3.1%, to $137.22.
Cannabis stocks proved an anchor, though, as Tilray fell 27 cents, or 6.2%, to $4.09, while Aurora Cannabis dipped five cents, or 2.9%, to $1.68.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 4.71 points to 609.99.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher during the morning, with energy gushing 2.2%, industrials up 1.9%, and information technology, better by 1.8%.
The three laggards proved to be health-care, sliding 0.8%, consumer staples down 0.7%, and gold, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities climbed Wednesday, boosted by strong gains from Google-parent Alphabet and Microsoft, as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision, scheduled for later in the day.
The Dow Jones Industrials rocketed 151.32 points into noon hour EDT at 31,912.86.
The S&P 500 progressed 56.14 points, or 1.4%, to 3,977.19
The NASDAQ leaped 295.66 points, or 2.6%, to 11,855.24.
Alphabet shares rose 5% after the tech giant’s quarterly report showed strong revenue from Google’s search business. That said, the company’s overall earnings and revenue came in below expectations.
Microsoft also posted earnings and revenue below analyst estimates but reported a 40% jump in revenue growth for Azure and cloud services. Shares popped 5%.
Boeing rose about 2% even though its second-quarter results fell short of analysts’ estimates. The company posted positive operating cash flow and stuck to its forecast to return to free cash flow this year.
There are more major earnings reports to come. On Wednesday, Qualcomm, Ford and Meta Platforms will report at the end of the day.
More than 150 S&P 500 companies have reported calendar second-quarter earnings thus far. Of those names, roughly 70% have beaten analyst expectations.
Investors are also awaiting a key announcement from the Federal Reserve. The central bank will announce its latest interest rate decision on Wednesday afternoon. Markets widely expect a three-quarter percentage point increase in the benchmark rate
Treasury prices gained ground, lowering yields to 2.77%, from Tuesday’s 2.80%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices restocked $2.32 to $97.30 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped 30 cents to $1,711.40 U.S. an ounce.
