Equities in Canada’s largest centre opened higher on Wednesday, rebounding from the previous day's declines, as the metal mining sector led the upward momentum after gold prices raced past $4,000 an ounce for the first time.
The TSX gained 37.37 points at the outset to 30,389.09
The Canadian dollar eked higher 0.05 cents at 71.72 cents.
Gold continued its ascent, shattering the $4,000-per-ounce threshold for the first time, as investors piled into the safe haven to seek cover from mounting geopolitical uncertainty.
Meanwhile, copper prices inched upward as market participants remained concerned about potential supply disruptions.
Market attention was also fixed on Tuesday's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney.
During the talks, Trump offered assurances of fair treatment regarding painful U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, though he appeared less committed to the trilateral trade agreement that includes Mexico.
Carney made his second White House visit in just five months, as he is under mounting pressure to address U.S. tariffs affecting Canadian steel, automotive and other industries.
On the corporate front, Lithium Americas saw its U.S.-listed shares climb 5% following news that the U.S. Department of Energy had agreed to defer a $184-million debt service obligation.
Lithium Americas rocketed 81 cents, or 0.7%, to $12.36.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange flew 10.33 points, or 1%, to 1,001.69.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower in the first hour, with energy losing 0.7%, real-estate surrendering 0.6%, and telecoms off 0.5%.
The five gainers were led by gold, brighter by 0.9%, materials, up 0.8%, and information technology, ahead 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 rose on Wednesday, a day after it snapped a seven-day win streak because of a drop in Oracle that called to question the sustainability of the artificial intelligence trade. The U.S. government shutdown is also in its second week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index surged 53.9 points to start Wednesday at 46,656.88.
The much broader index gained 26.85 points to 6,741.44
The tech-heavy NASDAQ spiked 164.24 points to 22,952.60.
Nvidia shares rose more than 1% after CEO Jensen Huang said that demand has risen in recent months, telling the media that “this year, particularly the last six months, demand of computing has gone up substantially.”
The move comes just a day after the AI chip darling finished lower in sympathy with Oracle shares in the wake of Oracle reportedly seeing lighter margins in its cloud business than analysts are currently forecasting and that the enterprise software company is losing money on some of its deals to rent out Nvidia’s chips.
That added to fears that the stock market is currently caught up in an AI bubble that harkens back to the late 1990s, when a feeding frenzy on early internet companies eventually led to the bursting of the dot-com bubble.
Many market observers are urging investors to rebalance their portfolios, while also acknowledging there could be further upside before the AI rally exhausts itself.
Meanwhile, the current government shutdown dragged into its eighth day Wednesday, with the Senate expected to vote once again later in the day to reopen the government. The chamber for the fifth time failed to pass a short-term funding bill Monday.
The stoppage has weighed little on equities thus far, but poses a greater risk to sentiment the longer it wears on.
Wall Street will also be awaiting the latest Federal Reserve minutes on Wednesday, which could give investors insight into the makeup of the Fed following a highly divisive September meeting.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury eked up soon after Wednesday’s open, reducing yields to 4.11% from Tuesday’s 4.12%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices captured 54 cents to $62.27 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $58.70 to $4,063.10 U.S. an ounce.
