(CORRECTS TSX AND VENTURE CLOSE)
The good vibes kept going Wednesday for equities in Canada’s largest centre, as tech and financial stocks led the parade.
The TSX added 156.95 points to conclude Wednesday at 34,127.33.
The Canadian dollar squirted up 0.09 cents at 73.07 cents U.S.
Automotive fleet manager Element Fleet Management reported fourth-quarter profit marginally lower than estimates in aftermarket earnings. Shares in Element Fleet doffed $1.36. or 4%, to $33.10.
Investors also kept an eye on Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada, which reported their earnings before the bell. Shares in the “First Canadian Bank” gained $4.74, or 4.5%, to $203.76.
National shares captured $11.70, or 6.7%, to $189.26.
In tech stocks, Dye & Durham hiked 29 cents, or 7.9%, $3.96, while Firan Tech moved upward $1.32, or 6.6% to $21.20.
In health-care, Sienna Senior Living captured 37 cents, or 1.6%, to $23.45, while Curaleaf Holdings added four cent, or 1.2%, to $3.42.
Consumer staples weighed on things, though, with Loblaw discarding $3.72, or 5.5%, to $63.80., while Empire Company slid 97 cents, or 2%, to $48.30.
In consumer discretionary stocks, Restaurant Brands International dipped $1.84, or 2%, to $92.45, while Gildan Activewear lopped off $1.09, or 1.1%, to $97.53.
Energy took a pasting, primarily Advantage Oil, off 23 cents, or 2.2%, to $10.06, while Parex Resources deducted 85 cents, or 3.8%, to $21.38.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 21.62 points, or 2%, to 1,084.97.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, with information technology ahead 2%, financials richer by 1.9%, and health-care haler by 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by consumer staples, down 2.2%, energy off 0.7%, and consumer discretionary off 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities rose on Wednesday, supported by Nvidia and Oracle, as stocks built on the gains from the prior trading day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 239.07 points to 49,413.57
The S&P 500 index gained 49.37 points to 6,939.44.
The NASDAQ flew 262.59 points, or 1.2%, to 23,126.14.
Nvidia was up more than 1% ahead of its earnings report, which is scheduled to be released after the bell along with results from software giant Salesforce and Snowflake.
Nvidia’s report comes at a time when investors are recalibrating lofty tech stock valuations and growing skeptical on hyperscalers’ high AI capital expenditures.
Fellow artificial intelligence player Oracle jumped more than 4%, leading the continued bounce in software stocks, after the name was upgraded at Oppenheimer, which sees a “favorable” risk-reward profile in the wake of its recent pullback.
Software and cybersecurity stocks also saw a relief rally in the regular session after Anthropic launched a new connectors and plugins for its knowledge worker tool, Claude Cowork, that will allow companies to connect the AI tool to their existing apps such as Google Drive. Claude Cowork rattled the software sector in recent weeks as investors feared the tool would disrupt incumbent software vendors’ businesses.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained, lowering yields to 4.05% from Tuesday’s 4.04%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 14 cents to $65.49 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shone brighter $59.80 to $5,230.10 U.S. an ounce.
