Equities opened higher on Wednesday, tracking gains in energy stocks on firm crude oil prices, while data showed Canadian factory sales
fell in July, mainly due to decreases in primary metal industries and petroleum and coal products.
The TSX Composite regained 92.09 points to kick off the mid-week session at 19,737.49.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.34 cents to 75.93 cents.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada told investors July manufacturing dropped 0.9% in July, mainly on lower sales of primary metals and petroleum and coal products industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 2.9 points to 648.73
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour, with energy ballooning 3.2%, health-care haler 1.6%, and gold brighter 1.1%.
The five laggards were weighed most by communications, skidding 0.5%, real-estate, down 04%, and industrials, of 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks moved modestly higher on Wednesday as investors tried to find their footing after the biggest one-day drop in more than two years.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered from the trauma of Tuesday’s near 4% decline, gaining 25.64 points Wednesday at 31,130.61
The S&P 500 reclaimed 7.28 points to 3,939.97.
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 42.5 points to 11,676.08.
Chevron and Merck were among the top stocks in the Dow, gaining more than 1.5% each. Apple added 0.5%.
The Dow sank more than 1,200 points Tuesday, or nearly 4%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.3%. The NASDAQ Composite dropped 5.2%. It was the biggest one-day slide for all three averages since June 2020.
The market moves came after August’s consumer price index report showed headline inflation rose 0.1% on a monthly basis despite a drop in gas prices.
The hot inflation report left questions over whether stocks could go back to their June lows or fall even further. It also spurred some fears that the Federal Reserve could potentially hike even higher than the 75 basis points markets are pricing in.
Treasury prices fell slightly, raising yields to 3.43% from Tuesday’s 3.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.
Oil prices surged $1.92 to $89.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped three dollars to $1,714.40 U.S. an ounce.
