Equities in Canada’s largest market rose on Tuesday, in line with Wall Street as oil prices surged and many countries eased coronavirus-related restrictions to boost economic recovery.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained solidly positive, gaining 114.37 points to reach noon hour Tuesday at 14,859.31.
The Canadian dollar gathered 0.24 cents to 71.25 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Westshore Terminals Investment, which jumped $1.75, or 12%, to $16.28, and MEG Energy, which rose 31 cents, or 10.5%, to $3.22.
Thomson Reuters recovered from earlier losses and actually picked up 15 cents, to $98.71, after the media giant cut its full-year sales outlook and reported first quarter sales and operating profit slightly below Wall Street expectations.
Iamgold fell 19 cents, or 3.7%, the most on the TSX, to $5.01, after it missed first-quarter revenue estimates and reported quarterly loss of one cent per share while analysts were expecting profit of 4 cents.
Italy, Spain, Nigeria and India, together with Ohio and other U.S. states, began allowing some people to go back to work and opened up construction sites, parks and libraries.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada says this country’s merchandise exports fell 4.7%, while imports declined 3.5%. As a result, Canada's trade deficit widened from $894 million in February to $1.4 billion in March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.12 points to 477.19.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher midday, with information technology stocks clicking 2.7% higher, energy surging 2.5%, and health-care haler by 1.3%.
The three laggards were gold, down 0.6%, materials, doffing 0.3%, and consumer staples, demurring 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose sharply on Tuesday as investors bet the U.S. economy could start to re-open again. Oil prices increased for a fifth straight day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 385.03 points, or 1.6%, to 24,134.79.
The S&P 500 climbed 50.26 points, or 1.8%, to 2,893.
The NASDAQ Composite popped 157.88 points, or 1.9%, to 8,878.59.
Crude’s surge sparked a 4.6% rally in the S&P 500 energy sector. Noble Energy rose more than 9% to lead the sector higher while Apache and Occidental Petroleum both gained more than 7%.
Investors weighed fears of a second wave of coronavirus cases against efforts to reopen businesses and loosen restrictions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday some of the state’s retailers will be allowed to offer curbside pickup starting Friday.
Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the daily number of hospitalizations and new deaths are declining, suggesting the state is on “the other side of the mountain.” He added, however, that officials are not seeing as steep of a decline as they had hoped.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury hesitated, raising yields to 0.65% from Monday’s 0.63%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $3.73 to $24.12 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shrank $6.90 to $1,706.40 U.S. an ounce.
