Canada’s main stock index opened lower on Tuesday, after a long holiday weekend, despite gains in heavyweight energy stocks and the approval of a $2.3 trillion coronavirus aid package in the United States.
The TSX started a short week down 66.87 points to 17,557.01,
The Canadian dollar gained 0.2 cents to 78.06 cents U.S.
The index trades only three days this week, with trading shut down on Friday for New Year’s Day.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jumped 12.36 points to 858.14
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups began Tuesday lower, with health-care staggering 3.5%, information technology down 1.5%, and gold off 1%.
The four gainers were led by consumer staples, surging 0.3%, while real-estate picked up 0.2%, and financials nosed higher by 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were mostly flat on Tuesday after reaching fresh all-time highs as traders weighed the possibility of even more fiscal stimulus being approved by Congress.
The Dow Jones Industrials inched up 2.95 points at 30,406.92
The S&P 500 advanced 3.88 points to 3,739.24.
The NASDAQ lopped 5.3 points to 12,804.73.
Boeing rose 0.9% as its beleaguered 737 Max jet flew once again in the U.S. Health-care was the best-performing S&P 500 sector, advancing 0.8%.
The House passed a bill late Monday to increase the direct payments to $2,000 from the $600 included in a relief package recently signed by President Donald Trump. Trump had previously called for a $2,000 direct payment to Americans. Senate Republicans, however, have opposed larger direct payments despite Trump’s demands.
Wall Street was coming off a strong session, with sentiment boosted by Trump signing a $900-billion coronavirus relief package into law.
Stocks are heading into year-end with surprisingly strong gains. Entering Tuesday’s session, the S&P 500 was up 15.6% for 2020 and the Dow up 6.5% over that time period. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, has surged more than 43% in 2020 as investors flocked into major tech names such as Apple, Amazon and Facebook.
The number of coronavirus cases keeps rising in the U.S., however, casting doubt over the economic recovery heading into the new year. Over the past week, at least 184,000 new infections have been reported in the U.S. per day, according to an analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were lower, raising yields to 0.94% from Monday’s 0.93%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices surged 56 cents to $48.18 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices tacked on two dollars to $1,882.40.