Stocks Enjoy Moderate Gains to Start out Tuesday

Equities in Canada’s largest centre edged higher at open on Tuesday as energy and materials shares gained on strong commodity prices, while investors held back from making hefty bets ahead of the Bank of Canada's (BoC) verdict on monetary policy on Wednesday.

The TSX gained 28.43 points to begin Tuesday at 19,850.88.

The Canadian dollar recovered 0.02 cents to 75.35 cents U.S.

The BoC's policy meeting will be on the radar as the central bank is widely expected to deliver another 25-basis-point hike on Wednesday after data last week hinted at a robust jobs market.

J.P. Morgan now expects the BoC to hike its lending rate by 25 bps to 5% on Wednesday, while Bank of America expected the central bank to hold rates steady.

Operators of multiple restaurant concepts MTY Food Group reported higher second-quarter revenue. MTY shares galloped $2.54, or 4.1%, to $63.90.

Discount store chain Dollarama said its chief financial officer, J.P. Towner, would step down in the coming months to pursue another career opportunity. Dollarama dipped $1.34, or 1.5%, to $85.90.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange eked ahead 0.97 points to kick off Tuesday at 622.10.

Seven of 12 TSX subgroups lost ground by day’s end, with industrials down 1.1%, while utilities and communications down 1% each.

The five gainers were led by health-care, springing up 3.7%, while energy picked up 2.9%, and materials surged 1.5%.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stocks were flat Tuesday, after the major averages snapped a three-day decline, as traders awaited key inflation data slated for release later in the week.

The Dow Jones Industrials gained 90.81 points to begin trading on Tuesday at 34,035.21.

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The S&P 500 gained 5.82 points to 4,415.35.

The NASDAQ index slipped 0.81 points to 13,684.67.

Etsy jumped 8%, making it one of the best-performing stocks in the broad market index. Meanwhile, Salesforce’s stock rose 4% after the company announced it would increase price across the board in August.

The June consumer price index report set for release Wednesday, as well as the June producer price index due out Thursday, will shed light on whether the decline in inflation has continued, and create the backdrop for future direction of interest rates.

Investors have penciled in another quarter-point increase at the Federal Reserve’s July 25-26 meeting. But they are undecided about what the central bank will do at its September meeting after last week’s continued robust jobs data raised concern that policymakers will revert to raising rates following the June pause.

Second-quarter earnings season kicks off later this week with results from “systemically important financial institutions” such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, plus BlackRock, PepsiCo and Delta Air. Dow component UnitedHealth reports Friday.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury were up a bit, lowering yields to 4.00% from Monday’s 4.01%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices took on $1.05 to $74.04 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices surged $7.40 to $1,938.40 U.S. an ounce.