Stocks in Toronto faded from day-long highs, but managed to stay north of the breakeven line, thanks largely to tech strength.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained positive 19.18 points to close Wednesday at 14,830.74.
The Canadian dollar dived 0.55 cents to 70.70 cents U.S.
Technology stocks had another stellar day, with Sierra Wireless leaping $1.03, or 8.4%, to $3.36, while BlackBerry jumped 36 cents, or 6%, to $6.38.
Next on the list were consumer discretionary stocks, headed by Real Matters, hiking $3.66, or 22.3%, to $20.06, while Sleep Country rose to life 41 cents, or 3.1%, to $13.64.
Industrials moved up, too, as Cargojet picked up $4.18, or 3.2%, to $136.18, while Canadian Pacific Railway chugged along $7.42, to 2.4%, to $312.42.
Gold displayed the worst performance on the day, as Torex Gold Resources tailed off $1.24, or 6.1%, to $19.15, while Barrick Gold lost $2.04, or 5.1%, to $37.62.
Energy stocks also weakened, as Crescent Point lost nine cents, or 4.7%, to $1.81, while Seven Generations Energy spilled 14 cents, or 5.2%, to $2.55.
Among materials, Cascades fell 46 cents, or 3.3%, to $13.44, while Franco-Nevada ditched $4.50, or 2.2%, to $200.47.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tailed off 1.65 points to 478.02.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers, with information technology soaring 3.9%, consumer discretionary picking up 0.9%, industrials, ahead 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by gold, down 3%, energy, off 2.8%, and materials, sliding 2.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell for the first time in three days on Wednesday as investors weighed the prospects of reopening the economy along with a dismal report on U.S. payrolls.
The Dow tumbled 218.45 points to 23,664.64.
The S&P 500 skidded 20.02 points to 2,848.42.
The NASDAQ Composite ended positive 45.27 points to 8,854.39.
Facebook added 0.7%, and Netflix rose 2.3%. Amazon gained 1.4%, while Apple closed 1% higher.
Stocks were also under pressure as crude prices fell 2% to snap a five-session winning streak. Those losses led to a 2.6% drop in the S&P 500 energy sector. Occidental Petroleum fell 12.5% while Helmerich and Payne dropped 6.1%.
President Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that "there’ll be more death" from coronavirus but argued that not reopening businesses would also cost people their lives in other ways such as drug overdoses and suicides.
California will permit clothing stores, bookstores and flower shops to reopen for curbside pickup as soon as Friday while New York plans to ease restrictions on manufacturers, construction, and select retailers next week. This easing of restrictions has led investors to bet that the economy will restart in the near future.
A report from ADP and Moody’s Analytics showed private payrolls were cut by 20.2 million last month. That was the worst report in the data series’ history. Still, it was not as bad as a Dow Jones estimate of 22 million job losses.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury fell sharply, raising yields to 0.70% from Tuesday’s 0.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 49 cents to $24.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $22.70 to $1,687.90 U.S. an ounce.
