Equities in Canada’s most dominant market moved slightly higher shortly after the open on Wednesday as investors brush aside the latest comments on North Korea from U.S. President Donald Trump, with financial stocks leading broad gains.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 6.9 points to open Wednesday at 15,089.60
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.53 cents to 79.40 cents U.S.
Among health-care issues, Aphria gained five cents to $6.02.
Citigroup cut the target price on Sunopta Inc. to $10.00 from $11.50. Sunopta shares inched up five cents to $10.63.
Tech stocks made their way up, with BlackBerry up a dime to $11.42.
Industrials shone, too, with Canadian Pacific Railways up $1.22 to $193.68.
CIBC raised the target price on Bank of Nova Scotia to $87.00 from $85.00. Scotiabank shares gained 38 cents to $77.71.
On the economic schedule, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $974 in June, little changed from the previous month, but up 1.8% compared with 12 months earlier.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 2.34 points to 774.66
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups started the session in the green, with health-care rising 1.7%, information technology going up 0.6%, and industrials up 0.5%
The three laggards were energy, dawdling 0.7%, gold, inching back 0.1%, and materials off 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
Technology stocks climbed higher on Wednesday following shares of Apple.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 6.96 points to 21,872.33, with UnitedHealth contributing the most to the gains.
The S&P 500 gained 3.06 points to 2,449.36, with financials leading advancers and telecommunications lagging.
The NASDAQ improved 27.37 points to 6,329.25. The index received a boost from Apple, which rose 0.2% and hit a record high shortly after the open.
Other major stocks in the sector also rose, including Facebook, Google-parent Alphabet and Netflix. Tech is by far the best-performing sector this year, advancing more than 20%.
Investors also digested a slew of economic data. The ADP National Employment report showed private-sector jobs increased by 237,000 jobs in August, well above the expected 185,000. The ADP report is often used by traders as a preview to the government's monthly jobs report, which is set for release on Friday.
Meanwhile, the second estimate for gross domestic product data in the second quarter showed the U.S. economy grew by 3%, more than the expected increase of 2.7%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note sagged a bit, raising yields to 2.14% from Tuesday’s 2.13%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped 32 cents to $46.12 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices eased back $4.70 to $1,314.20 U.S. an ounce.
