Stocks Keep Gains by Noon

Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday on hopes of a pickup in demand as several countries gradually relax lockdown measures, while falling oil prices due to a supply glut kept energy stocks under pressure.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained positive 25.87 points to move into Wednesday noon at 14,837.43.

The Canadian dollar dived 0.61 cents to 70.64 cents U.S.

Also supporting the move was a gain in technology stocks, which jumped 3% after Shopify posted a surprise adjusted profit for the first quarter as more users visited its platform after lockdowns led merchants to move their businesses online. Shares of the company jumped $50.17, or 5.2%, to $1,017.42.

The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Real Matters, which jumped $2.37, or 14.4%, to $18.79, after posting second-quarter revenue and profit above analysts' estimates, and Boralex Inc, which rose 6.4% on beating first-quarter revenue and profit estimates. Boralex shares sprinted $2.29, or 8.2%, to $30.13.

Arc Resources fell 30 cents, or 5.1%, the most on the TSX, to $5.61. The second-biggest decliner was Secure Energy Services, down five cents, or 4.3%, to $1.12.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange tailed off 1.25 points to 479.32.

Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were still in the plus column midday, led by information technology, clicking 1.3% higher, utilities, up 0.7%, and consumer staples, up 0.6%.

The five laggards were weighed most by energy, down 3.3%, gold, sliding 2.2%, and materials, off 1.5%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks were flat on Wednesday after back-to-back gains as investors weighed the prospects of reopening the economy along with a dismal report on U.S. payrolls.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 105.96 points to 23,777.13.

The S&P 500 skidded 6.62 points to 2,861.82.

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The NASDAQ Composite extended gains by 66.39 points to 8,875.85.

Big tech stocks such as Facebook improved 1.4%, and Netflix rose 2.3%. Amazon and Alphabet each rose 0.8% while Apple traded 1.7% higher.

Stocks were also kept in check as crude prices reversed course to trade more than 4% lower. West Texas Intermediate futures were coming off a five-session winning streak and are up about 28% for May. Those losses in oil prices led to a 1.4% drop in the S&P 500 energy sector. Occidental Petroleum, Marathon Petroleum and National Oilwell Varco all dropped more than 2%.

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 0.72% from Tuesday’s 0.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices dropped $1.43 to $23.13 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices slipped $18.60 to $1,692 U.S. an ounce.