Equities in Canada’s biggest centre rose on Wednesday as higher oil prices supported energy stocks, offsetting losses for technology stocks after worse-than expected results from two high profile U.S. companies.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was positive 55.88 points to open Wednesday’s session at 13,865.32
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.14 cents to 79.48 cents U.S.
Outgoing Valeant Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Michael Pearson plans to tell a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday that he regrets his decision to acquire and jack up the price of two life-saving heart drugs.
Valeant shares weakened 28 cents to $45.42.
Bombardier Inc said on Tuesday it will be moving forward its first-quarter results by a day to Thursday, in a surprise announcement that only served to elevate market expectations of a big CSeries order this week.
Bombardier shares got lift of 13 cents, or 6.5%, to $2.12.
Cenovus Energy Inc reported a smaller quarterly loss, helped by foreign exchange gains, and said it would cut its 2016 capital budget to help cope with a prolonged slump in oil prices.
Cenovus shares popped 50 cents, or 2.7%, to $19.37.
NBF raised the rating on Teck Resources to sector perform from underperform. Teck shares added 47 cents, or 3.3%, to $14.16.
Barclays cut the target price on Husky Energy to $21.00 from $22.00, with an overweight rating. Husky shares boosted 44 cents, or 2.8%, to $16.37.
CIBC raised the target price on Sun Life Financial to $47.00 from $44.00. Sun Life shares gained 10 cents to $43.26.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.8 points to 658.24
All but three of the 13 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour of trading, as energy triumphed 2.4%, industrials gained 1.3%, and metals and mining picked up 0.8%.
The three laggards were information technology, down 1.3%, consumer staples, off 0.7%, and consumer discretionaries, sliding 0.3%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly lower Wednesday, weighed by sharp declines in Apple shares on disappointing earnings, ahead of the scheduled afternoon release of the Federal Reserve statement.
The Dow Jones Industrials dipped 28.83 points to 17,961.49, with Apple accounting for almost 50 points off the index and contributing the most to declines.
The S&P 500 dumped 1.57 points to 2,090.13, as energy briefly rose more than 1%, while information technology lagged with declines of more than 1%
The NASDAQ Composite Index plummeted 45.14 points to 4,843.14,
Apple revenues missed expectations and dropped roughly 13% from the same period last year, falling for the first time since 2003 as
iPhone sales had their first year-over-year decline. Earnings were 10 cents short of expectations at $1.90 U.S. a share. The firm did increase its dividend by 10% and raised its capital return program by $50 billion U.S.
Shares briefly fell more than 8% in morning trade.
In other earnings news, Boeing reported earnings that missed but revenues that beat.
Comcast briefly rose more than 2% in morning trade for the most positive impact on the NASDAQ index. The company posted earnings that beat on both the top and bottom line. Comcast saw growth across virtually all its business segments, and its biggest first quarter jump in TV customers in nine years.
Separately, overnight there were reports that Comcast is in talks to buy DreamWorks.
Facebook is due to post earnings after the close Wednesday.
Economically speaking, U.S. pending home sales rose 1.4% in March.
Total mortgage application volume decreased 4.1% last week on a seasonally-adjusted basis from the previous week, according to the U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association.
The U.S. the Federal Reserve could take a slightly more hawkish tone in its statement, due for release at 2 p.m. ET.
The Bank of Japan is set to release its statement on monetary policy Thursday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to 1.89% from Tuesday’s 1.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 88 cents a barrel to $44.92 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $4.31 to $1,247.71 U.S. an ounce.
