Equities in Canada’s largest centre rose on Wednesday as financial shares gained, although a slip in crude oil prices hit energy issues.
The S&P/TSX composite index added 47.56 points to greet noon at 15,152.30
The Canadian dollar fell 0.22 cents to 80.40 cents U.S.
Among subgroups, consumer staples led the parade, with Alimentation Couche-Tard skyrocketing $1.38, or 2.8%, to $50.35, and Loblaw traveling 92 cents, or 1.5%, to $63.99
Metals and mining stocks gathered steam Wednesday, with Lundin Mining climbing 16 cents, or 2.8%, to $5.87.
Among information technology issues, BlackBerry zoomed 32 cents, or 2.7%, to $12.27.
Among the most influential gainers were Royal Bank of Canada, which rose 1% to $79.90, and insurer Manulife Financial Corp, which advanced 1.3% to $23.30.
The most influential decliners included Canadian Oil Sands, which declined 1.2%to $11.20.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported today that our imports declined 2.5% in April and exports were down 0.7%, meaning Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $3.9 billion in March to $3.0 billion in April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.62 points to 691.27
Eight of the 14 TSX subgroups were gainers by noon ET, most notably, consumer staples, gaining 1.6%, metals and mining, up 1.2%, and information technology, stronger by 1%
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by gold, sliding 0.7%, while utilities and energy each shrank 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Wednesday as investors looked at more domestic economic reports that could strengthen the case for tightening and awaited developments in the Greek debt talks
The Dow Jones Industrials climbed 87.88 points to pause for lunch at 18,099.82, with JPMorgan Chase and Microsoft leading nearly all blue chips higher and Intel the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 index gained 5.30 points to 2,114.90, with telecommunications and financials leading seven sectors higher and utilities and energy the only decliners.
The NASDAQ regained 24.57 points to 5,101.09.
On the economic slate, ADP private sector payrolls increased 201,000 in May, with the service sector boosting the figure to above the expected 200,000.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in April as exports of services hit a record high and imports fell.
The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday said that the U.S. trade gap shrunk to $40.9 billion U.S. in April, the largest decrease since early 2009 and down from March's revised deficit of $50.6 billion U.S.
The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index came in at 55.7, nearly a year low. Analysts expected the figure to slip to 57 in May from 57.8 in April.
The U.S. Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index Services read for May showed a slight decline from April and came in below expectations at 56.2.
Other economic data out on Wednesday include the Federal Reserve's Beige Book at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet senior European officials later in the day in Brussels, where he is expected to hear the terms of a plan drawn up this week by top policymakers including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Reuters said.
Athens faces a 300-million-euro payment deadline to the International Monetary Fund this Friday.
At a press conference, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi reaffirmed the continuation of ECB's asset purchase program and said he wants Greece to stay in the euro-zone. He would not comment on the Greece debt talks. Earlier in the day, the ECB left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.05%, as expected.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries collapsed, spiking yields to 2.35% from Tuesday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped $1.08 a barrel to $60.18 U.S.
Gold prices dropped $4.10 at $1,190.30 U.S. an ounce.
