Canada's main stock index opened higher on Wednesday, helped by energy stocks, while National Bank of Canada dropped after the Canadian lender missed quarterly profit estimates.
The TSX jumped 106.68 points to begin Wednesday at 20,397.09.
The Canadian dollar marched 0.17 cents to 73.92 cents U.S.
Among big energy winners, Advantage Oil climbed 19 cents, or 2%, to $9.51 in the first hour, while Athabasca Oil acquired seven cents, or 1.9%, to $3.74,
Along with National, which lost $2.42, or 2.4%, to $98.05, four of the big six Canadian banks - Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal have missed third-quarter profit estimates on higher loan provisions.
The only exception has been Royal Bank of Canada which beat analysts' estimates, while Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is set to report quarterly earnings on Thursday.
TD shares hiked 18 cents to $83.43, while Scotiabank grabbed 19 cents to $64.71, and BMO acquired 93 cents to $115.23. RBC shares moved higher 61 cents to $123.27, while CIBC shares gained 37 cents to $55.63.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange deleted 1.02 points to 587.13.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground first thing Wednesday, energy rumbling 1.2%, gold up 0.9%, and materials stronger 0.7%.
Only health-care started lower, and 0.5% at that.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose Wednesday, putting Wall Street on track to build on a three-day winning streak.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 66.96 points to 34,919.63.
The S&P 500 index eked higher 10.73 points to 4,508.36.
The NASDAQ index grabbed 36.21 points to 13,978.87.
On Tuesday, the major U.S. stock benchmarks rallied following the release of disappointing consumer confidence figures and a bigger-than-forecast drop in U.S. job openings for July. This sparked hope among traders that the Federal Reserve could lighten its policy stance sometime soon.
Despite the gains, the three major indexes remain on pace for losses in August with just two trading days left. The Nasdaq Composite is poised to end August 2.8% lower, while the Dow and S&P 500 are both slated for drops of around 2%.
Shares of Insulet pushed the S&P 500 higher after chief executive James Hollingshead increased his personal stake in the company by 19.4%. Elsewhere, Hewlett-Packard dipped 10% after reporting quarterly results which included a revenue miss.
Wednesday’s moves come as traders pore over disappointing payrolls data. ADP said private employers added 177,000 jobs in August.
That’s well below a revised July number of 371,000. It also missed a Dow Jones estimate of 200,000.
Meanwhile, annual gross domestic product growth was downwardly revised on Wednesday to 2.1% from the previous 2.4% forecast.
This is the second day investors appear to treat weaker-than-expected economic data as good news for stocks.
On Tuesday, the major U.S. stock benchmarks rallied following the release of disappointing consumer confidence figures and a bigger-than-forecast drop in U.S. job openings for July. This sparked hope among traders that the Federal Reserve could lighten its policy stance sometime soon.
Despite the gains, the three major indexes remain on pace for losses in August with just two trading days left. The NASDAQ is poised to end August 2.8% lower, while the Dow and S&P 500 are both slated for drops of around 2%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 4.1 % from Tuesday’s 4.12%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices rose 66 cents to $81.82 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $10.10 to $1,975.20 U.S. an ounce.
