Equities in Canada managed to keep their chins up by Tuesday’s final bell, as health-care and consumer stocks provided much of the muscle
The S&P/TSX Composite Index hung onto gains of 10.88 points Tuesday to 16,067.91
The Canadian dollar gained 0.09 cents at 75.92 cents U.S.
Among the biggest advancer was Aphria, which rose 72 cents, or 5.7%, to $13.45, after announcing a deal with Manna Molecular Science to make cannabis transdermal patches.
Rival Canopy Growth hiked $3.06, or 5.3%, to $60.86.
Among consumer staples, Loblaw Companies took on 40 cents to $65.35, while Metro picked up 59 cents, or 1.2%, to $49.77.
Utilities also scored well, as ATCO prospered 33 cents to $42.55, while Hydro One gained 24 cents, or 1.2%, to $20.49.
Gold got pounded, however, as Barrick Gold erased a penny to $16.59, while Goldcorp handed back 45 cents, or 3.1%, to $14.16.
Tech stocks tailed off somewhat, as BlackBerry surrendered 10 cents to $11.42, while Shopify slid $3.85, or 1.6%, to $243.88.
In materials, First Quantum Minerals dipped 22 cents, or 1.3%, to $15.94, while Agnico Eagle Mines shed six cents to $56.98.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange notched up 0.22 points to 623.95
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups remained in the green till the close, with health-care soaring 3.5%, consumer staples improving 0.9%, and utilities better by 0.8%.
The four laggards were weighed most by gold, dulling in price 0.9%, information technology, fading 0.7%, and materials, off 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell in choppy trading Tuesday as investors digested the release of weaker-than-expected Home Depot earnings, mixed economic data and testimony from the top-ranked Federal Reserve official.
The Dow Jones Industrials slid 33.97 points to close Tuesday to 26,057.98, as Caterpillar and Home Depot underperformed.
The S&P 500 backed off 2.21 points to 2,793.90, as losses in the industrials sector offset a gain in tech.
The NASDAQ Composite fell 5.16 points to 7,549.30
Equities initially fell after Home Depot reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $2.09 a share, below an expected profit of $2.16. The home improvement company also issued weaker-than-expected guidance for 2019. Those results sent Home Depot shares down about 0.9%.
Home Depot's results were followed by weaker-than-expected housing starts data. Data released by the Commerce Department showed housing starts fell 11.2% in December and reached their lowest level since September 2016.
Caterpillar dropped 2.4% after UBS cut its rating on the industrial giant to sell from buy. UBS also slashed its 12-month price target on Caterpillar to $125 per share from $154, implying an 11.6% downside from Monday's close of $141.41.
UBS cited slowing demand in global construction as the main reason for the downgrade. Caterpillar is largely seen as a bellwether for global growth.
Consumer confidence surged to 131.4 in February, easily topping an estimate of 124. In January, consumer confidence was at 121.7.
Home prices also rose in December at their slowest pace August 2015, the S&P Case-Shiller index showed.
Market participants also digested testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday. In prepared remarks, Powell said the economy is "healthy" but added the Fed is also seeing "crosscurrents and conflicting signals." It comes after the U.S. central bank adopted a more cautious stance on future interest rate hikes last month.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.64% from Monday’s 2.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up 18 cents to $55.66 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $1.40 to $1,330.90 U.S. an ounce.
