Equities in Canada’s largest centre scaled another record high at the open on Tuesday as gains in technology shares overshadowed weakness in commodity-linked stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index stretched another 71.87 points, to begin Tuesday’s trading at 22,081, yet another all-time high for the index.
The Canadian dollar added 0.05 cents to 79.48 cents U.S.
Canadian Pacific Railway and its union have agreed to a binding arbitration to help resolve a labour dispute, allowing for operations to resume from Tuesday at the country’s second-largest railroad. CP shares chugged ahead $1.47, or 1.5%, to $102.64.
Eight Capital initiated coverage on Apollo Silver with a buy rating. Apollo shares closed Monday at 58 cents.
National Bank of Canada raised the target price on Dollarama to $69.00 from $66.00. Dollarama jumped 28 cents to $69.10.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Playmaker Capital to $1.15 from $1.10. Playmaker took on one cent, or 1.7%, to 59 cents.
On the macroeconomic calendar, Statistics Canada reported its raw materials price index rose 6.0% month over month in February and 29.8% year over year.
The agency’s industrial product price index rose 3.1% month over month in February and 16.4% year over year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 4.82 points to 868.64.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour Tuesday, with health-care up 1.3%, financials ahead 1%m and real-estate, advancing 0.8%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, sliding 1.2%, materials, stepping back 0.6%, and consumer staples, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rebounded Tuesday as traders digested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s latest rate hike comments.
The Dow Jones Industrials resumed its winning ways at the outset Tuesday, popping 262.69 points to start things off at 34,815.68, led by Nike’s post-earnings report gain.
The S&P 500 sprinted 38.91 points to 4,500.09
The NASDAQ Composite recovered 197.21 points, or 1.4%, to 14,035.67.
Stocks are coming off a volatile session Monday, as Powell said “inflation is much too high” and vowed to take “necessary steps” to curb inflation. The comments came less than a week after the Fed raised rates for the first time since 2018.
Some market participants raised their expectations for rate hikes following Powell’s comments. Goldman Sachs on Monday upped its forecast to 50 basis point hikes at the May and June Fed meetings.
Bank stocks rose Tuesday along with interest rates. Financials comprised the top-performing S&P 500 sector. JPMorgan gained more than 2%, and Bank of America rose around 4%.
Technology stocks, which struggled Monday after Powell’s comments, rebounded Tuesday. Big Tech names Alphabet, Meta and Amazon all gained more than 1%, providing support to the indexes.
Nike shares moved up more than 4% after the retailer reported a beat on the top and bottom lines for its fiscal third quarter, buoyed by strong demand in North America.
Investors on Tuesday continued to watch the situation in Eastern Europe, with President Joe Biden saying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s back is “against the wall” as the war with Ukraine nears a stalemate.
Treasury prices slumped, raising yields to 2.38% from Monday’s 2.30%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.74 to $110.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $16.30 to $1,913.20 U.S. an ounce.