Stocks in Toronto rose in morning trade on Tuesday, boosted by a jump in shares of a major bank and strong gains for gold miners as the precious metal held near a three-and-half-month high.
The S&P/TSX Composite found traction and grew 43.6 points to greet noon at 15,507.11.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.34 cents at 75.49 cents U.S.
Bank of Montreal rose 2.2% to $100.71 after it reported much higher-than-expected quarterly earnings and announced plans to buy back 15 million of its shares.
Bank of Nova Scotia's earnings were less impressive, and its shares fell 2.2% to $77.50. The financials group, which accounts for 35% of the index's weight, experienced a slight gain overall.
Gold miners featured prominently among the most influential gainers, as Barrick Gold Corp rose 3.1% to $25.49, and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd advanced 3.6% to $57.34.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc fell 9% to $19.96 after saying that 2017 would be another year of transition with revenue falling as much as 8% amid drug price pressure and fewer prescriptions.
Among energy concerns, Enbridge fell 1.7% to $55.37 and Crescent Point Energy lost 1.6% to $14.75.
TransCanada Corp bucked the trend, with the pipeline company adding 1.4% to $61.37 after agreeing on Monday to sell two U.S. pipelines to fund other projects.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada’s Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.4% in January, mainly due to higher prices for energy and petroleum products.
The Raw Materials Price Index increased 1.7%, led by higher prices for animals and animal products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 0.34 points to 827.55
Eight of the 12 subgroups made gains as the clock approached noon ET, as gold brightened 3.1%, materials strengthened 2.1%, and real-estate picked up 0.6%.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, sputtering 1%, consumer staples, down 0.3%, and energy, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell slightly Tuesday as investors eagerly awaited a speech from President Donald Trump while parsing through key economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials subtracted 5.14 points from Monday’s all-time high at 20,832.30, with Wal-Mart and Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses
The S&P 500 turned lower 3.32 points to 2,366.43,.with telecommunications lagging and consumer discretionary also sliding. Shares of Target dragged discretionaries, falling more than 10% on the back of weaker-than-expected quarterly results and light guidance.
The NASDAQ lost 18.04 points to 5,843.86.
In economic news, the second read on fourth-quarter U.S. GDP remained unchanged, but consumer spending was revised sharply higher to a 3% rate from 2.5%
Meanwhile, low inventory and mortgage rates pushed home prices 5.8% higher in December, up from November's 5.6% annual gain, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index.
Other data released Tuesday included consumer confidence for February, which hit its highest level since July 2001. Some Federal Reserve officials are also set to speak throughout the day.
Trump is scheduled to speak at a joint Congress session Tuesday night. Wall Street will be listening closely for any clues or details regarding the administration's plans on tax reform and deregulation.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 2.35% from Monday’s 2.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 71 cents to $53.34 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $1.10 to $1,257.70 U.S. an ounce.
