TSX Resumes Winning Ways

Equities in Canada’s largest centre continued their hot streak Monday, as energy muscled their way up the charts to start an abbreviated Easter week.

The TSX gained another 178.39 points to end Monday at 20,278.28.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.04 cents to 74.48 cents U.S.

Energy was the champion of the gainers, as International Petroleum pointed sharply upward $1.19, or 9.2%, to $14.17, while MEG Energy triumphed $1.92, or 8.8%, to $23.63.

Among material stocks, Teck Resources popped $9.24, or 18.7%, to $58.59, while First Quantum Minerals grabbed $1.22, or 3.9%, to $32.29.

In gold, Iamgold gained 13 cents, or 3.5%, to $3.82, while Lundin Gold added 60 cents, or 3.8%, to $16.38.

Health-care tended to drag things down, however, Bausch Health Companies slipped 50 cents, or 4.6%, to $10.45, while Bellus Health dumped 36 cents, or 3.7%, to $9.35.

In real-estate, Allied Properties REIT units toppled 72 cents, or 3%, to $23.64, while AIF docked $1.23, or 2.1%, to $56.16.

Techs also swooned, with Celestica down 45 cents, or 2.6%, to $16.98, while Docebo fell $2.46, or 4.5%, to $52.56.

On the economic front, the Markit Canada Manufacturing PMI for March registered 48.6, down noticeably from 52.4 in February. It was the lowest reading recorded by the index since June 2020 and represented a modest deterioration in operating conditions.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 3.09 points to 631.15.

Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with health-care dumping 2.4%, information technology off 1%, and real-estate stepping back 0.9%.

The four gainers were led by energy, rumbling 5%, while materials seized 2.2%, and gold was brighter by 1.8%.

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ON WALLSTREET

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 300 points on Monday, as Wall Street shows resilience despite an oil output cut from OPEC+ that threatens to stoke inflation and recession fears.

The 30-stock index vaulted 327 points, or 1%, to 33,601.15.

The S&P 500 gained 15.2 points to 4,124.51.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ lost 32.45 points, off its lows of the morning, to 12,189.45.

Markets spent much of the trading session digesting the news from OPEC+ which is slashing 1.16 million barrels per day. WTI and Brent futures were higher.

Marathon Oil jumped $2.38, or 9.9%, to $26.34, while Halliburton took on $2.46, or 7.8%, to $34.09.

All three major averages were positive in the first quarter, despite turmoil in the banking sector highlighted by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March. The NASDAQ Composite led the way in the quarter with a gain of 16.8% while the S&P 500 rose 7% in the first three months of the year for its second-straight positive quarter. The Dow industrials lagged but still managed to grind out an advance of 0.4%.

The first week of the new quarter is a shortened one for Wall Street, as trading will be closed for Good Friday. However, there will be several key pieces of economic data for investors, including job openings data on Tuesday, ADP private payrolls report on Wednesday and the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 3.41% from Friday 3.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices ballooned $4.79 to $80.46 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $15.70 to $2,001.90 U.S. an ounce.