Stocks in Canada’s largest centre moved higher on Tuesday, helped by gains for companies whose financial results exceeded expectations, including energy company Encana Corp and e-commerce company Shopify.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index muscled up 51.75 points to move into noon hour at 15,627.38
The Canadian dollar tumbled 0.38 cents at 72.75 cents U.S.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International advanced 5.6% to $13.96 after its CEO told shareholders the company is on track to repay $5 billion in debt by early next year.
Colliers International Group shares jumped 9.8% to $75.31 after the commercial real estate company posted strong first-quarter results.
Shopify advanced 4.2% to $110.57 after reporting a 75% jump in revenue and upping its full-year sales forecast.
Encana advanced 2.5% to $14.92 as higher oil and gas prices helped boost its operating profit.
Suncor Energy Inc, Canada's biggest oil and gas producer, was up 0.6% at $43.17. The majority owner of the Syncrude Canada oil sands project said on Monday it had resumed shipping crude from its Mildred Lake upgrader.
Alternative lender Home Capital Group advanced 9.9% to $7.65. The company's stock has plummeted since a securities regulator last month accused top executives of hiding mortgage broker fraud from investors.
WestJet Airlines declined 4.6% to $21.80 despite beating profit estimates as the company said it would buy more jets, raising its capital expenditure.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained negative 1.53 points to 799.53
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive midday, as health-care gained 1.5%, gold shone brighter 1.3%, and industrials were stronger by 0.9%
The lone naysayer was in financials, down 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mixed on Tuesday as Apple propelled itself higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 25.41 points midday Tuesday to 20.938.87, with 3M and Apple contributing the most gains and shares of Intel the biggest advancer.
The S&P 500 docked 0.01 points to 2,388.32, with information technology leading advancers and consumer staples lagging.
The NASDAQ Composite slid 0.26 points from Monday’s all-time high to 6,091.34, with shares of Apple hitting a new high, before turning lower.
Apple is set to report fiscal second-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday. One of the key metrics investors will be watching out for in those earnings are iPhone sales.
The tech giant makes most of its money from iPhones — and even if it meets estimates of 52 million, that's not a lot more than the 51 million it reported a year ago.
Apple's earnings have topped analyst expectations 15 of the past 16 quarters, while sales have missed just four times in the same time period, according to UBS research from April 24.
In economic news, U.S. automakers were releasing their April sales numbers throughout the day.
The number is expected to come in at an annual rate of 17.2 million, compared with March's annual rate of 16.6 million.
However, General Motors announced its sales fell 5.8 percent last month, more than expected. Ford's sales also declined more than expected.
Wall Street also kept an eye on the Federal Reserve, with the central bank kicking off a two-day monetary policy meeting.
The Fed, however, is not expected to shift monetary policy when their meeting concludes. Market expectations for a rate hike following this meeting are just 4.8%.
That said, investors will be looking for more clues about the Fed's plan to unwind its massive $4.5-trillion balance sheet.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained, lowering yields to 2.31% from Monday’s 2.32%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 40 cents at $48.44 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices recovered 40 cents at $1,255.90 U.S. an ounce.
