The Toronto stock market made a bit of headway soon after Wednesday’s opening bell, while traders are looking for hints on the pace of future interest rate hikes when the minutes of the latest meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve are released this afternoon.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 13.57 points to open Wednesday at 15,150.75
The Canadian dollar gained 0.13 cents to 93.78 cents U.S.
Information technology issues proved among the strongest subgroups, with BlackBerry shares surging 22 cents, or 1.9%, to $11.90.
Also, gold stocks shone brighter, with Guyana Goldfields climbing 12 cents, or 4.5%, to $2.81, and Barrick Gold up two cents to $19.97.
Many Canadian companies will be reporting their second-quarter earnings this month and into August.
Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver is expected to announce Wednesday that he has enough support from the provinces to set up a national securities regulator. Sources say Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are ready to join Ontario and British Columbia in supporting the proposal, which is opposed by Quebec and Alberta.
Ottawa says it would be more far effective if the financial markets were policed by one national body instead of the current patchwork of 13 regulators.
Real estate company Royal LePage said the average price of a home in Canada increased between 3.9% and 5.2% in the second quarter of 2014 and prices are expected to go up steadily for the rest of the year.
According to the Royal LePage survey, the average price of detached bungalows rose 5.2% to an average price of $406,454. Meanwhile, standard two-storey homes rose 5.1% year-over-year to $440,972, while standard condominiums posted gains of 3.9% to $258,501.
In the economic docket, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said that the seasonally-adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose to 198,200 units last month from May’s total of 197,000 units.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.04 points to 1,027.48.
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher to begin the session, with information technology and gold stocks each up 0.9%, and global base metals ahead 0.6%.
The three laggards were health-care, down 0.6%, energy, sliding 0.2%, and real-estate off 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
After two days of selling, investors hit the "buy" button once again Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved forward 16.06 points to 16,922.68
The S&P 500 inched up 1.85 points to 1,965.56, and the NASDAQ composite docked 3.39 points to 4,388.07.
Citigroup is reported to be close to agreeing to pay $7 billion to settle a U.S. government investigation into the sale of mortgage backed securities. The deal would include billions in help for borrowers, according to the reports. The stock moved little in early trading.
JPMorgan paid $13 billion U.S. last year to settle similar charges.
Shares in Alcoa rose after kicking off earnings season by beating analyst estimates.
Overall, earnings for the companies in the S&P 500 are expected to be up 7.9% in the second quarter, compared with the same period last year, according to FactSet.
Shares in Gigamon were down again Wednesday after plunging a whopping 33% on Tuesday. The technology company had lowered its revenue guidance for the second quarter.
The Container Store was also suffering -- down more than 12% -- after reporting sluggish same-store sales.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will post minutes from its two-day June meeting at 2 p.m. ET, and investors will be scrutinizing them for any signs of an interest rate hike.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell a bit, raising yields to 2.57% from Tuesday’s 2.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices skidded 84 cents to $102.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices bolted $10.10 higher to $1,326.60 U.S. an ounce.
