Equities in Canada’s largest centre remained somewhat placid as morning became afternoon on Wednesday, as gains in energy and health-care shares were countered by losses in consumer staples and gold stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained negative 1.72 points to greet noon Wednesday at 15,461.42
The Canadian dollar raced ahead 0.43 cents to 75.78 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Precision Drilling, which surged 25 cents, or 10%, to $2.70, after updating its 2019 debt repayment and free cash flow forecast.
Labrador Iron Ore Royalty, which rose $2.78, or 10.7%, to $28.80, was the second biggest gainer on the main index.
Cannabis producer Cronos Group shook off morning losses to gain $1.17, or 4.9%, to $25.22. Celestica, however, dropped 19 cents, or 1.5%, to $12.85.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that average weekly earnings of Canadians in non-farm roles came in at $1,012 in November, little changed from the previous month. The agency adds that, compared with 12 months earlier, earnings grew by 2%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 1.26 points to 613.83
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were still in the red by noon, with consumer staples dropping 0.8%, while gold lost 0.7%, and communications dipped 0.6%.
The four gainers were led by energy, up 0.6%, financials, ahead 0.2%, and utilities, eking 0.1% higher.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Wednesday as Boeing and Apple surged on the back of their earnings results.
The Dow Jones Industrials muscled higher 377.32 points, or 1.5%, to 24,957.28, as Boeing and Apple outperformed.
The S&P 500 climbed 25.14 points, or 1%, to 2,665.14, led by the tech and consumer discretionary sectors.
The NASDAQ Composite sprang up 79.11 points, or 1.1%, to 7,107.40
Boeing shares jumped 6.8% after its quarterly earnings easily beat expectations. The aerospace giant also posted annual revenue of more than $100 billion for the first time and gave strong earnings guidance for 2019.
Apple climbed 4.9% after reporting a quarterly profit that barely beat estimates. The company’s overall quarterly revenue topped expectations, but iPhone sales for the quarter came in below estimates. The report comes after the company had slashed its revenue guidance earlier this month, citing a slowdown in China.
The results from the Dow members come during the busiest week of the earnings season. By the end of this week, more than 100 S&P 500 companies will have released their quarterly results. So far, 71% of the companies that have reported have surpassed earnings expectations.
AMD shares also surged more than 15.2% on its quarterly release. Facebook and Microsoft are scheduled to report after the bell Wednesday.
Qualcomm and Tesla are also slated to report.
Investors also looked ahead to a key monetary-policy decision from the Federal Reserve at 2 p.m. ET. The Fed is largely expected to have kept interest rates unchanged at their latest meeting. However, investors will look for clues regarding the Fed’s plans to roll off its massive balance sheet.
On the data front, U.S. private payrolls grew by 213,000 in January, according to data released by ADP and Moody’s Analytics. Analysts expected a gain of 178,000. The data come ahead of Friday’s non-farm payrolls report.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped back, raising yields to 2.73% from Tuesday’s 2.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.53 to $54.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved 90 cents to $1,316.10 U.S. an ounce.
