Stocks in Canada’s largest centre built on early gains and didn’t stop till the final bell rang Tuesday. Energy and gold proved the big winners.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index forged ahead 82.26 points to conclude business Tuesday at 16,545.21
The Canadian dollar forfeited 0.17 cents to 76.17 cents U.S.
Energy concerns were kings of the hill Tuesday, with Canadian Natural Resources jumping $1.03, or 3%, to $35.14, while MEG Energy triumphed 11 cents, or 2.2%, to $5.15.
Among gold issues, New Gold burst out seven cents, or 5.7%, to $1.29, while Eldorado Gold popped 47 cents, or 5.8%, to $8.61.
Techs also fared well, as BlackBerry gained 22 cents, or 2.4%, to $9.55, while Photon Control gathered two cents, or 1.8%, to $1.12.
Economically speaking, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of housing starts rose to 245,657 units from a revised 196,809 units in May. Economists had projected starts to rise to 210,000.
Elsewhere, Statistics Canada said, following a record $9.5 billion in April, the value of permits issued by Canadian municipalities declined 13.0% to $8.2 billion in May, largely due to a drop in British Columbia. Excluding B.C., the national value of permits rose 3.2%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 2.55 points to 585.48
All 12 Toronto subgroups were in the green when the closing bell rang, as energy tallied 1.5%, gold was better by 1.3%, and information technology gathered 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly on Tuesday as investors awaited more clues on the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy move.
The 30-stock index let go of 22.65 points to 26,783.49, making for a third straight day of losses, after being pressured by 3M shares.
The stock fell more than 2% after an analyst at RBC Capital Markets downgraded it to sector perform from outperform amid worries over the macroeconomic environment and overhang from litigation. Before the close, however, the Dow briefly turned positive.
The S&P 500 recovered 3.68 points to 2,979.63
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 43.35 points to 8,141.73, as Facebook and Amazon shares gained more than 1% each. Netflix shares also added to the indexes gains.
Netflix shares rose 1% after the streaming company said the third season of "Stranger Things" posted a viewership record.
PepsiCo reported better-than-expected earnings, but the stock fell more than 1%. Levi Strauss is scheduled to report quarterly numbers after the bell.
The corporate earnings season ramps up next week as major banks like Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo scheduled to report quarterly results. Investors will anxiously look through the reports for evidence on how corporations are coping with the current economic and trade environment.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. This comes just after a stronger-than-expected jobs report raised questions about the central bank’s rate policy.
Investors will be looking for clues on whether the Fed will cut rates later this month, as it is widely expected, or if the central bank thinks the economy is strong enough to maintain current economic policy.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell back a bit, lifting yields to 2.06% from Monday’s 2.05%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up 34 cents to $57.83 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $1.10 to $1,398.90 U.S. an ounce.
