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Stocks Improve by Afternoon
Stocks in Canada’s biggest centre forged higher by noon Tuesday, with health-care and tech stocks leading the way.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 20.93 points to greet noon Tuesday at 15,473.57
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.29 cents to 79.27 cents U.S.
Markets on both sides of the border took Monday off, the U.S. for Presidents Day, Canada for Family Day
Cannabis concerns such as Aphria Inc. were on the move, Aphria leaping $1.19, or 8.5%, to $15.25, while Canopy Growth hiked $3.10, or 11.7%, to $29.60.
Techs were also improved, as BlackBerry climbed 19 cents, or 1.3%, to $15.35, while Shopify soared $9.18, or 5.3%, to $181.78.
In the energy sector, Suncor conquered, gaining 83 cents, or 1.9%, to $44.19.
Among gold concerns, Goldcorp dipped 31 cents, or 1.8%, to $16.63, while Barrick Gold faded 11 cents to $16.41.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade Wholesale sales declined 0.5% to $63.0 billion in December, the first decrease in three months.
Lower sales were recorded in five of seven sub-sectors, representing 65% of total wholesale sales.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange strengthened 4.65 points to 834.82
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups moved into the positive country, with health-care sprinted 3.7%, while information technology climbed 1.2%, and energy stocks took on 1.1%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, dulling in price 1.2%, consumer staples, sagging 0.8%, and materials, dropping 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ composite indices traded higher on Tuesday, lifted by strong gains in tech stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained some ground against breakeven, but remained behind 53.9 points to 25,165.48, as shares of Walmart weighed on the 30-stock index. The Dow briefly fell more than 200 points earlier in the session. Walmart reported weaker-than-expected earnings on Tuesday, pushing the stock down nearly 10%,
The S&P 500 handed back 4.35 points to 2,736.57, erasing earlier losses, with the tech sector advancing nearly 1%.
The NASDAQ gained 54.28 points to 7,293.75, as shares of Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google all rose.
Tech has been the best-performing sector over the past week, rising 4.6% in that time period.
Wal-Mart reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.33 per share, missing an estimate of $1.37. The company also reported a 23% drop in e-commerce revenue.
Meanwhile, Home Depot released quarterly results that surpassed analyst expectations, lifting the Dow component by 0.6%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dipped, raising yields to 2.91% from Friday’s 2.87%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 61 cents a barrel to $62.29 U.S.
Gold prices slid $22.70 to $1,333.50 U.S. an ounce.
