The Toronto stock market was slightly higher Wednesday as minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting shed little light on how fast the U.S. central bank will accelerate the winding up of a key stimulus program.
The S&P/TSX composite index added 17.70 points to end Wednesday at 13,614.63
The Canadian dollar unloaded another 0.34 cents to 92.53 cents U.S.
TSX gains were paced by health-care stocks such as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which climbed $3.61, or 2.7%, to $138.64.
Another strong sector was the base metals segment, while the March copper contract lost early gains and gave back two cents at $3.34 U.S. a pound. Performance was mixed with HudBay Minerals ahead 20 cents to $8.81 while Teck Resources declined 33 cents to $26.28.
The tech sector was largely supportive, as Constellation Software rose $1.65 to $227.29 and Open Text climbed $2.12 to $101.60.
BlackBerry was up six cents to $9.20 on top of two days of solid gains.
The energy sector was up slightly as Suncor Energy gained 30 cents to $37.47.
The gold sector was the biggest drag. Barrick Gold faded 30 cents to $19.37 while Iamgold fell a penny to $3.75. The component was the worst performer on the TSX last year, losing almost 50%, but it has been generally positive so far this year, up almost 4% over the last week.
Industrials also dragged, with Canadian National Railway down 95 cents to $58.63. A CN train carrying propane and crude oil derailed in northwestern New Brunswick on Tuesday.
A spokesman said initial indications are that 15 cars and one locomotive derailed from a train that consisted of 122 cars and four locomotives.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 6.33 points to close at 956.16
Eight of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher, with health-care stocks climbing 1.5%, while the metals and mining segment and information technology each moved 0.7% higher.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by gold, down 1%, while industrials were down 0.6% and telecoms sank 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock traders were in a cautious mood Wednesday, as investors mulled over the minutes from last month's U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 68.20 points to close the session at 16,462.74, after Tuesday’s 100-point-plus gain
The S&P 500 index slid 0.39 points to 1,837.49. The NASDAQ gained 12.43 points to 4,165.61
In corporate news, J.C. Penney shares plunged after the troubled retailer released a short and vague statement about its sales performance during the key holiday season.
Yelp shares soared over 8% to new all-time highs, following Yelp's 266% run-up in 2013.
Shares of Ford rose after the automaker said late Tuesday that CEO Alan Mulally is not leaving the company for Microsoft Shares of Microsoft were lower.
Constellation Brands surged after the wine, beer and spirits company reported strong earnings for its most recent quarter and boosted its outlook for the year.
Agrochemical giant Monsanto shares were also higher following better-than-expected quarterly earnings and sales.
Revenue figures were disappointing from The Container Store, sending shares of the retailer sharply lower.
Micron Technology shares surged following quarterly earnings that beat expectations.
Yahoo rose to a multi-year high, a day after CEO Marissa Mayer touted some of the company's new products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Pot stocks were once again in focus following their big rally on Tuesday as the business of legal marijuana begins booming in states like Colorado. Shares of Hemp. Inc. and GreenGro were up sharply for a second day.
But Medbox, which surged more than 80% Tuesday, had an extremely volatile day Wednesday. Shares tumbled over 25% in afternoon trading after starting the day up more than 25%.
Investors and traders were eager to look over the latest Fed minutes, since they covered the meeting when the central bank decided to start cutting its massive economic stimulus program. Many Wall Street experts expect the stimulus program will be wrapped up by the end of 2014.
The Fed minutes did not reveal anything shocking though. The main takeaway was that the central bank wants to move "cautiously" with its plans to taper its bond buying.
Economically speaking, payroll firm ADP reported that the U.S. private sector created 238,000 jobs during December.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries lost ground, raising yields to 2.99% from Tuesday’s 2.96%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dived $1.65 at $92.51 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $4.20 to $1,225.40 U.S. an ounce.
