TSX Fights Way into Green

Markets in Canada’s largest centre struggled for most of the day, but finished in plus territory, as gains in communications and energy bested losses in materials and health-care.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index moved higher 24.72 points to close Tuesday at 16,426.47

The Canadian dollar regained 0.13 cents to 74.60 cents

Markets in Canada were closed Monday for Victoria Day

Agnico Eagle Mines slumped 50 cents to $54.83, while First Quantum Minerals slumbered 83 cents, or 7%, to $11.02.

In health-care, Bausch Health Companies settled 93 cents, or 2.8%, to $32.81, and Aurora Cannabis dipped 12 cents, or 1%, to $11.59.

Techs faded a bit, too, as Shopify drooped $2.05 to $366.00, while BlackBerry fell 33 cents, or 2.9%, to $11.04.

In communications, Rogers gained $1.13, or 1.6%, to $69.88, while BCE amassed 37 cents to $60.96.

In the oil patch, Suncor Energy shot higher 68 cents, or 1.6%, to $44.01, while Imperial Oil gained 25 cents to $37.86.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange took on 3.26 points to 612.41.

Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups remained in the red pretty much throughout the day, as materials tumbled 1%, health-care dwindled 0.7%, and information technology lost 0.6%.

The five gainers were led by communications, up 0.7%, energy, forging ahead 0.6%, and financials, richer by 0.5%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks closed higher on Tuesday following news that the U.S. temporarily eased restrictions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

The Dow Jones Industrials popped 197.43 points to conclude Tuesday at 25,877.37, as Intel outperformed.

The S&P 500 increased 24.13 points to 2,864.36, with the tech sector jumping 1.2%.

The NASDAQ Composite leaped 83.35 points, or 1.1%, to 7,785.72.

Equities also got a boost from Boeing. Shares of the airplane maker rose 1.7% after The Wall Street Journal reported that a bird collision may have caused the 737 Max crash in March.

Shares of chipmakers Micron Technology rose 3% while Xilinx gained 4.6%. Qualcomm shares advanced 1.5%. Nvidia advanced 2.2%, and Lam Research gained 1.8%

Kohl’s shares plunged 12.4% after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings. J.C. Penney also dropped 7.4% following the release of its quarterly numbers.

Trade tensions are not going away any time soon. Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled there would be no end to the trade war in the near future. Last week, some media outlets learned that scheduling talks regarding trade negotiations had stalled.

The Commerce Department said Monday night it would allow Huawei to purchase American-made goods in order to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets until Aug. 19. The move sought to minimize disruption for the telecom company’s customers around the world.

Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, raising yields to 2.43% from Monday’s 2.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices docked eight cents to $63.02 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices slid $2.80 to $1,274.50 U.S. an ounce.