(CORRECTION: RESTATES TSX SUBGROUPS)
Canada's main stock index was flat on Wednesday, as losses in technology stocks were offset by gains in heavyweight energy stocks after crude oil prices neared their highest in about a year.
The S&P/TSX Composite eked higher 0.12 points to pause for lunch Wednesday at 17,874.61.
The Canadian dollar edged higher 0.08 cents to 78.30 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was ATS Automation Tooling Systems, which jumped 18.2% after strong quarterly results.
Aphria rose 8.1% as weed-related stocks surged after drug developer Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc paid a large premium to buy cannabis-based drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals.
New Gold fell 3.3%, the most on the TSX, after CIBC cut the target price. The second-biggest decliner was Shopify, down 2.3%.
Canada has signed its first deal to allow a foreign coronavirus vaccine to be manufactured domestically, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday as new cases began to drop steadily.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange leaped 13.75 points, or 1.4%, to 977.16.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly split, as health-care jumped 5%, while energy soared 2.8%, and consumer discretionary picked up 1.3%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by real-estate down 1.2% while information technology and industrials each backed off 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 held steady on Wednesday following a strong two-day rally, as investors digested strong earnings from some of the biggest technology companies.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off their lows of the morning, but were still behind 17.99 points by noon to 30,669.49,
The S&P 500 took on 11.23 points to 3,837.54.
Shares of Google’s parent Alphabet jumped more than 6% after the technology giant reported 23% revenue growth and topped estimates for earnings, boosted by Google’s recovering advertising business.
Amazon reported earnings nearly doubled Wall Street estimates, while delivering its biggest revenue of all time at $125.56 billion, pushing it past the symbolic $100-billion mark for the first time. The ecommerce leader also announced that Jeff Bezos was stepping down as CEO. Amazon’s stock traded 0.4% lower.
Amgen fell 3% — the biggest loser in the blue-chip Dow — after the biotech firm issued a weaker-than-expected full year outlook, noting that the pandemic would continue to hurt sales.
Wall Street was coming off a back-to-back rally as the Reddit-fueled retail trading frenzy dissipated, restoring investor confidence on the broader market. The 30-stock Dow is up over 2% this week after posting its best day since November on Tuesday. The S&P 500 has climbed more than 3% this week, while the NASDAQ has jumped more than 4%.
After a meteoric, albeit seemingly synthetic rise in GameStop last week caused by a short squeeze, shares have cratered more than 70% this week. Other Reddit trades have also come back down to Earth amid trading restrictions from major brokers. However, GameStop swung between gains and losses in volatile trading on Wednesday.
Investors are also monitoring negotiations in Washington surrounding another stimulus package. President Joe Biden met with the 10 Republican senators on Monday to discuss an alternative, smaller aid proposal to his $1.9-trillion package.
On the data front, private firms added 174,000 jobs in January, above the 50,000 Dow Jones estimate, according to a report Wednesday from payroll processing firm ADP.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys stumbled, raising yields to 1.13% from Tuesday’s 1.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices advanced $1.40 to $55.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recouped $2.90 to $1,836.60 U.S. an ounce.
