Equity markets in Canada’s largest centre managed to hold onto gains accumulated Wednesday as the country's top trade negotiator continued talks to preserve a three-nation North American Free Trade Agreement pact following Monday's deal.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came off its highs of the morning and much of the afternoon to gain 34.75 points and finish Wednesday at 16,390.29
The Canadian dollar regained 0.12 cents to 77.47 cents
Again, health-care, particularly, cannabis shares, led the way, as Aurora Cannabis strengthened 45 cents, or 5.3%, to $8.99, Aphria Inc. rose $1.63, or 11.2%, to $16.18, and Canopy Growth heightened $3.54, or 6.3%, to $59.44.
Among energy concerns, Imperial Oil gained 74 cents, or 1.8%, to $41.63, while Suncor Energy climbed 37 cents to $53.99.
Tech issues also had a banner day, with Constellation Software climbing $16.39, or 1.7%, to $962.04.
Real-estate stocks moved backward, as H&R REIT shed eight cents a unit to $20.29, while Brookfield Property Partners retreated 32 cents or 1.2%, to $26.77.
Utilities suffered, as Hydro One dropped a penny to $19.21.
Gold tailed off a bit, as Barrick Gold fell a penny to $13.72, while Goldcorp lost six cents to $14.32.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 10.16 points, or 1.4%, to 726.95
All but three of the 12 subgroups were higher by the closing bell as health-care galloped 4%, energy rumbled ahead 0.8%, and information technology progressed 0.6%
The three laggards were real-estate ditched 0.4%, utilities fell 0.3%, and gold dulled 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
A rally in tech stocks led the NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 to record highs, with Amazon, Alphabet and Apple leading the gains. Investor sentiment was also boosted by the resumption of U.S.-Canada trade talks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered 60.55 points to 26,124.57, as Apple rose 1.5% to an all-time high.
The S&P 500 gathered 16.52 points to 2,914.04, closing above 2,900 for the first time.
The NASDAQ grew 79.65 points to 8,109.69
Amazon shares rose 3.4% to a record after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock, predicting a $1.2-trillion valuation for the company. Analyst Brian Nowak said Amazon's advertising, subscription and cloud businesses "will drive higher profitability and continued upward estimate revisions." Amazon's stock closed at $1,998.10.
Shares of Google-parent Alphabet gained 1.5% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock, making it the highest on Wall Street. The analysts cited Waymo, the company's self-driving auto unit, as the big upside catalyst for the stock. Alphabet shares closed at $1,264.65.
The U.S. economy grew at a stronger pace in the second quarter than previously thought. The Commerce Department raised its second-quarter economy growth estimate to 4.2% from an initial forecast of 4.1%.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland rejoined the North American Free Trade Agreement talks on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. and Mexico announced they had struck a bilateral trade deal. Freeland told reporters that Mexico's "difficult" concessions to the States earlier this week would help lead the way for productive discussions between the three countries this week.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, raising yields to 2.89% from Tuesday’s 2.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.16 to $69.69 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $1.80 to $1,212.60
