Equities in Canada’s largest market held onto gains by midday Wednesday, on strength of consumer and real-estate stocks.
The TSX Composite gained 37.29 points to pause for lunch at 20,060.75.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.32 cents at 73.73 cents U.S.
Among single stocks, NFI Group dropped four cents to $8.91 after CIBC cut the bus manufacturer's rating to "underperform" from "neutral".
On the economic scoreboard, Statistics Canada reported manufacturing sales improved 2.8% in October, mainly on higher sales in the petroleum and coal, food and chemical products industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched north 0.90 points to 575.17.
All but two of the 12 subgroups gained ground, with consumer discretionary stocks picking up 0.6%, while real-estate and industrials each took on 0.5%.
The two laggards were health-care and communications, each off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose Wednesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate hike decision in its efforts to crush inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrials hiked 202.31 points midday to 34,310.95.
The S&P 500 gathered 21.55 points to 4,041.20
The NASDAQ Composite Index picked up 49.13 points to 11,305.95.
Shares of Delta rose nearly 2% after the airline said it expects 2023 earnings will roughly double because of “robust” travel demand.
Bank of America downgraded shares of Best Buy to underperform, saying in a note to clients Wednesday that the stock could tumble nearly 20% as inflation hinders consumer spending.
Jeffries raised its price target on Netflix to $310 from $250, but remains cautious on the streaming service near-term.
The Fed will conclude its December meeting and is expected to deliver a 50-basis-point rate hike. That’s a smaller bump after four consecutive 75-basis-point hikes. A basis point is equal to one-100th of 1%
Chair Jerome Powell will also speak Wednesday, giving further clues about what’s coming from the Fed in 2023. In previous meetings this year, traders have been sensitive to Powell’s language, interpreting his tone as hawkish or dovish.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were up slightly, lowering yields to 3.50% from Tuesday’s 3.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices progressed $1.98 to $77.37 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices docked $4.70 to $1,820.80 U.S. an ounce.
