TSX Flat at Tuesday Finish

Equities in Toronto finished Tuesday a tad on the negative side, as heavy losses in the health-care field overcame big gains in energy concerns, as North America held its collective breath over the prospects of Washington providing stimulus to Americans to tide them over during the coronavirus pandemic.

The TSX ended Tuesday 0.81 points south of breakeven to 16,273.26.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.38 cents to 76.18 cents U.S.

Among the health-care wounded, Trillium Therapeutics dawdled $1.14, or 6%, to $17.84, while Canopy Growth stumbled $1.36, or 5.2%, to $24.74.

Techs also had a bad time of it, with Quarterhill shedding 13 cents, or 4.9%, to $2.55, and BlackBerry doffing 16 cents, or 2.3%, to $6.69.

In the utility field, TransAlta dropped nine cents, or 1.1%, to $8.50, while Capital Power lost 29 cents, or 1%, to $30.18.

Energy stocks, however, did elevate themselves, primarily, Seven Generations Energy, which added 29 cents, or 7.1%, to $4.38, while Tourmaline Energy jumped 86 cents, or 5.1%, to $17.84.

In the consumer discretionary area, Aritzia gained 65 cents, or 3%, to $22.48, while Linamar progressed $1.37, or 3%, to $46.87.

Among materials, Interfor hiked $1.21, or 8.2%, to $16.00, while ERO Copper spiked $1.56, or 7.9%, to $21.22

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange plummeted 5.15 points to 711.99.

Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, weighed most by health-care, down 2.9%, information technology, sliding 1.3%, and utilities, off 0.4%.

The four gainers were led by energy, gushing 1.4%, while materials and consumer discretionary stocks each progressed 0.6%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks rose on Tuesday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled Democrats and the White House were making progress in negotiations for a new fiscal stimulus deal.

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The Dow Jones Industrials recovered from Monday’s 400-point plunge, climbing 113.37 points to observe Tuesday’s closing bell at 28,308.79.

The S&P 500 restocked 16.2 points to 3,443.12.

The NASDAQ pointed upward 37.51 points to 11,516.49.

Shares of Carnival Corp. hiked 3.3%, and American Airlines rose 1.9%, as company groups that would benefit the most from the economy reopening led the way higher. Kohl’s jumped 6.6% and Nordstrom advanced 1.2%.

Stocks also rose after the Moderna CEO told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s coronavirus vaccine could be available for emergency use in December if it gets positive results from its interim trial in November.

Dow member Travelers jumped 5.6% on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results. The company posted a profit of $3.12 per share on revenue of $7.77 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected earnings of $3.03 per share on sales of $7.55 billion.

Pelosi said on Tuesday that both sides made progress in their negotiations. "Hopefully by the end of the day, we’ll know where we all are," Pelosi told Bloomberg TV. "But I’m optimistic."

Pelosi gave the Trump administration 48 hours on Sunday to reach a deal on new aid before the Nov. 3 election. However, she said on Tuesday about the 48-hour deadline: "It isn’t that this day was a day that we would have a deal, it was a day that we would have our terms on the table to be able to go to the next step."

She and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were expected to talk Tuesday afternoon.

Prices for the 10-Year Treasury lost sharply, lifting yields to 0.79% from Monday’s 0.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices gained 68 cents at $41.51 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $1.20 to $1,912.90