Canada's main stock index had staged a recovery by midday Wednesday, after energy companies recovered from early losses and health-care issues shone.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came out into the sun 23.55 points by noon to 14,346.41
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.22 cents at 73.61 U.S.
As mentioned, health-care stocks led a small crop of gaining subgroups, as Aphria sprinted 36 cents, or 4.6%, to $8.21, while Canopy Growth boosted itself $1.62, or 4.4%, to $38.23.
Energy came out of its hole, as Canadian Natural Resources stepped forward 27 cents to $33.21, while Suncor improved 27 cents to $38.40.
Financials were also respectable, as RBC squired higher 13 cents to $93.57, and TD gained 47 cents to $68.33.
In the consumer staples field, Metro dropped 36 cents to $46.98, while Restraurant Brands slipped $1.61, or 2.3%, to $69.71
In the tech industry, BlackBerry was level at $9.71, while Shopify descended $2.78, or 1.5%, to $186.00.
In communications, Rogers lost $1.05, or 1.5, to $68.91.
Economically speaking, Canada's manufacturing sector expanded in December at the slowest pace in nearly two years as production growth faltered and export orders stagnated.
The IHS Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI), a measure of manufacturing business conditions, fell to a seasonally adjusted 53.6 last month, its lowest since January 2017, from 54.9 in November.
A reading above 50 shows growth in the sector.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved higher 8.53 points, or 1.5%, to 565.73
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups remained negative by noon, with consumer staples down 0.9%, information technology off 0.8%, and communications dipping 0.5%.
The three gainers were health-care, up 4%, energy, gushing 1.3%, and financials, up 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded well off their lows of the day on Wednesday as gains in bank, tech and energy shares offset worries about a possible global economic slowdown.
The Dow Jones Industrials Index quickly backtracked on Monday’s gains, dropping 113.75 points, to reach at 23,213.71,
These losses come after the 30-stock index completed its worst year in a decade on Monday.
The S&P 500 declined 9.41 points to 2,497.44,
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 13.14 points to 6,622.14. Facebook rose 3.3%, and Amazon picked up 0.7%, to help the index pare its losses. Bank shares erased their earlier losses as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase all climbed about 1%.
Energy stocks also contributed to the move off the lows. The S&P 500 energy sector rose 2.1%, led by gains in Hess and Apache, as U.S. crude surged 2.8%.
The moves Wednesday come after a private sector survey showed manufacturing activity in the world’s second-largest economy contracted for the first time in 19 months. China’s Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for December dipped to 49.7 from 50.2 in November.
Shares of tech-related companies were among the worst performers. Netflix’s stock dropped 2.9% after an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey said subscriber growth — a key metric for the company — fell short of expectations in the fourth quarter. Chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices both dropped more than 1.5% while Micron’s stock pulled back more than 1.2%.
Tesla shares also fell 9.6% after releasing weaker-than-expected delivery numbers for the fourth quarter.
Despite solid gains on Monday, the S&P 500 slid 6.2% and Dow was down 5.6% for 2018. Both indexes posted their biggest annual losses since 2008, when they plunged 38.5% and 33.8%, respectively. The NASDAQ lost 3.9% in 2018, its worst year in a decade, when it dropped 40%.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury eked higher, lowering yields to 2.66% from Monday’s 2.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices rebounded $2.02 to $47.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices acquired $6.70 at $1,288.00 U.S. an ounce.
