Canada's main stock index opened higher on Tuesday, with consumer staples' shares leading the gains, as investors assessed a series of economic data out of the U.S. amid growing expectations of an imminent rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The TSX prospered 77.97 points to begin Tuesday at 30,682.32.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.02 cents to 70.89 cents U.S.
On the trade front, Canada and India are close to finalizing a uranium export agreement in a deal valued at about $2.8 billion U.S.
In company news, Barrick Gold has agreed to a 244-billion-CFA-francs ($430 million U.S.) settlement with Mali to resolve all disputes over the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex.
Barrick dipped 95 cents, or 1.7%, to $54.98.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange ditched 2.35 points Tuesday to 878.12.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups began the session with gains, with consumer staples flying 2.3%, consumer discretionary stocks picking up 1.4%, and real-estate ahead 1.1%.
The three laggards proved to be energy, withering 1.8%, gold, dulling 0.3%, and information technology, fading 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite fell on Tuesday following a winning day on Wall Street thanks to gains in artificial intelligence-linked names and renewed hopes of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 165.85 points to 46,614.12.
The S&P 500 subtracted 12.97 points to 6,592.15.
The tech-heavy benchmark let go of 151.68 points to 22,719.91.
The stock market is closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving Day, and it shuts down early at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.
Nvidia shares were down more than 6% after The Information reported, citing sources, that Meta Platforms was considering spending billions of dollars on Alphabet’s AI chips. Alphabet shares rose more than 2% on the report.
Monday marked a strong session for the three major averages. The S&P 500 gained about 1.6% on Monday, while the NASDAQ jumped 2.7% and recorded its best day since May 12 as major tech names rebounded after what’s been a tough month for the sector.
The Dow closed higher by more than 200 points, or 0.4%, meanwhile.
Google parent Alphabet was a standout name in the previous session, ending the day 6.3% higher and scoring a new record high. Chipmaker Broadcom was the S&P 500's biggest gainer after the stock surged more than 11%.
Investors have rallied behind both companies, which are related through their high-performance, application-specific chips, or ASICs, businesses.
Separately, traders continue to watch for any news that can affect the Federal Reserve’s upcoming monetary policy decision. Markets are pricing in a more than 80% chance of a quarter percentage point cut from the Fed in December,
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 4.01% from Monday’s 4.03%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid $1.65 to $57.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $23.50 to $4,117.70 U.S. an ounce.
