Equities in Canada`s largest market broke a two-session losing streak, as positive earnings and a rebound in energy stocks buoyed sentiment with focus on a crucial round of trade talks between the United States and China.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 39.65 points to end Wednesday’s session at 16,397.40
The Canadian dollar eased off 0.04 to 74.20 cents
Energy roared ahead, as Suncor leaped $1.01, or 2.3%, to $43.96, while Canadian Natural Resources picked up 63 cents, or 1.7%, to $37.92.
Among health-care related items, Bausch Health Companies bolted $1.44, or 4.2%, to $35.78, while Aurora Cannabis picked up six cents to $11.64.
Among techs, Constellation Software advanced $9.54 to $1,148.60, while Shopify screamed ahead $5.43, or 1.6%, to $353.50
Golds let the side down in Toronto, with Barrick Gold drooping 13 cents to $16.99.
Among materials, Agnico Eagle Mines dropped $1.06, or 1.9%, to 55.09
Consumer discretionary stocks suffered losses, as Magna International faded 46 cents to $71.78, while Hudson`s Bay Company dispensed with a dime, or 1.4%, to $7.21.
Economically speaking, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that seasonally-adjusted housing starts rose to 235,460 units in April of 2019 from a downwardly-revised 191,981 units in March and beating market expectations of 196,400 units. The SAAR of urban starts increased by 24% in April to 220,387 units
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.98 points to close Wednesday at 598.25
Eight of the 12 Toronto subgroups finished positive Wednesday, as energy jumped 2.1%, health-care vaulted 1.9%, and information technology acquired 1.1%.
The four laggards were led by gold, down 1.3%, materials, settling 0.4%, and consumer discretionary stocks, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks failed to rebound from a deep selloff this week as investors remain on edge about the standoff between the U.S and China over a trade agreement.
The Dow Jones Industrials seesawed, but finished positive 2.24 points to 25,967.33, following a 470-point loss in the previous session
The S&P 500 docked 4.63 points to 2,879.42
The NASDAQ Composite index was 20.44 points to 7,943.32
A disappointing forecast from Intel late in the trading day helped drag down the market. Intel fell 2.5%.
The Dow has lost nearly 540 points this week amid the trade dispute, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ are down more than 2% after both hitting all-time highs last week.
Ride-hailing company Lyft's stock slid 10.84% Wednesday after the company reported a heavy loss for its first quarterly earnings report as a public company. Some Wall Street analysts still believe the results were "a good first step' to profitability."
The corporate earnings season is wrapping up with 88% of the S&P 500 companies having reported their first-quarter earnings. Disney and Fox will report after the closing bell Wednesday. Shares of Disney were up 1.16% ahead of the earnings report.
So far, 88% of the S&P 500 companies have reported their first-quarter earnings. Earnings are beating by 6.7%, with 73% of companies exceeding their bottom-line estimates, according to Credit Suisse.
Major averages hit their highs of the day after White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders affirmed President Donald Trump’s comments earlier that China is coming this week to make a deal. But they soon pared the gains after China said it will take “necessary” countermeasures if U.S. raises tariffs Friday.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry said Wednesday that Beijing will retaliate if U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods is hiked to 25% from 10%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury lost strength, raising yields back to 2.49% from Tuesday’s 2.46%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 62 cents to $62.02 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices skidded four dollars to $1,281.60 U.S. an ounce.
