Gains were again the order of the day, among stocks in Toronto, though they failed to keep pace with the initial strength of the market on Thursday.
The TSX Composite descended from their midday peaks, but still gained 72.35 points to close Thursday at 19,352.11.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.62 cents to 73.72 cents U.S.
Tech issues wore the crown today, as Shopify stole the show, jumping $6.75, or 17.1%, to $46.25, while Nuvei Corp. gathered $1.23, or 3.1%, to $40.99.
In utilities, Transalta Corporation leaped 33 cents, or 2.8%, to $12.16, while ATCO Ltd. corralled 78 cents, or 1.9%, to $42.58.
Financial also prospered, with Fairfax Financial soaring $17.08, or 2.7%, to $661.39. iA Financial gained $2.16, or 3%, to $75.43.
Health-care, however, weighed things downward, as Bausch dropped 70 cents, or 7.2%, to $9.06, while yesterday’s big winner, Canopy Growth, backpedaled 25 cents, or 5.8%, to $4.04.
In real-estate, Tricon Capital ducked 73 cents, or 6%, to $11.48, while Colliers International Group settled $5.66, or 4.2%, to $129.51.
Gold also fell into the minus category, with Iamgold down eight cents, or 3.9%, to $1.96, and NovaGold slipped 30 cents, or 4.5%, to $6.32.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported its Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—fell by 22,200, or 0.1%, in August.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 2.65 points to 593.69.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups stayed positive, as information technology zoomed 4.5%, utilities acquired 0.7%, and financials had 0.6% worth of gains.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 3.5%, while real-estate lost 1%, and gold fell behind 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Thursday after new data showed third-quarter GDP grew faster than expected and hinted at waning inflation, encouraging investors to buy stocks linked to the health of the economy.
The 30-stock index held onto gains of 198.72 points to conclude Thursday at 32,037.83, led by shares of McDonald’s, Honeywell and Caterpillar after they reported better-than-expected earnings.
The S&P 500 went backward 22.59 points to 3,808.01.
The NASDAQ plummeted 178.32 points or 1.6%, to 10,792.68, as a rout in Facebook-parent Meta and other tech stocks weighed on those benchmarks.
Meta shares plummeted 29.7% on a weak fourth-quarter forecast and disappointing third-quarter earnings Wednesday. The company also said it would lose even more money next year building out the metaverse. The report led to several analysts downgrading the stock.
Apple was trading lower ahead of its after-the-bell earnings Thursday, as investors soured on big tech after some high profile earnings misses.
Birinyi Associates notes that Apple has beaten earnings estimates in each of the past eight quarters, but it has closed lower the next day after six of those reports.
After four of those quarterly releases, the stock was also lower a week later.
Apple was down about 2.9% Thursday afternoon. Birinyi notes that the company is expected to report earnings of $1.26 per share on revenues of $88.63 billion after the market close.
U.S. GDP increased at a 2.6% annualized pace for the period, against the Dow Jones estimate for 2.3% growth. The report, the first quarter of positive growth for 2022, eased investors’ concerns about a recession.
Treasury prices gained, lowering yields to 3.92% from Wednesday’s 4.01%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices heightened $1.09 to $89.00 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $3.20 to $1,666.00 U.S. an ounce.
