Equities in Toronto continued their surge Wednesday afternoon, following word from central bankers on both sides of the border.
The TSX Composite popped 136.33 points to 21,662.26.
The Canadian dollar popped 0.44 cents at 74.01 cents U.S.
On the economic front, the Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at 5%, with the Bank Rate at 5¼% and the deposit rate at 5%. The Bank is continuing its policy of quantitative tightening.
Governor Tiff Macklem said more time was needed to ensure inflation fell towards the central bank's 2% target.
Shortly afterwards, the IVEY School of Business revealed its PMI index skidded to 53.9 in February from 56.5 in January but rose from February 2023's reading of 51.6.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 7.75 points, or 1.4%, to 576.03.
All but one of the 12 subgroups continued to be positive midday, with gold and materials leading the way, each up 1.5%, and consumer discretionaries ahead 0.8%.
Only health-care issues were negative, falling 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose Wednesday, aided by recovering technology names after back-to-back losing sessions on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrials jumped 210.95 points Wednesday afternoon to 38,796.14.
The S&P 500 gained 45.84 points to 5,124.49.
The NASDAQ hiked 170.72 points to 16,110.31.
CrowdStrike jumped more than 11% on a top-and-bottom line beat for the latest quarter and a strong outlook. Palantir popped more than 10% after winning a significant army contract.
While tech names rallied, Nordstrom tumbled more than 13% after warning of potential sales declines in 2024. Foot Locker, another retailer, lost more than 28% on weak guidance for full-year earnings.
In prepared remarks for appearances on Capitol Hill, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could lower interest rates this year. But the Fed chief said the bank is not immediately ready to cut the cost of borrowing money.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury bounced, lowering yields to 4.10% from Tuesday’s 4.14%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gathered $1.80 to $79.95 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices progressed $15.10 to $2,157.
