Equities in Canada’s largest market were significantly higher by Wednesday’s close on the broad shoulders of tech and energy companies, as the Bank of Canada made an emphatic attack against runaway inflation.
The TSX Composite Index tilted higher by 122.61 points to adjourn Wednesday at 21,838.02.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.41 cents to 79.55 cents U.S.
Techs ruled the roost Wednesday, most notably, Converge Technology Solutions, soaring 40 cents, or 4.6%, to $9.11, while HUT 8 Mining jumped 28 cents, or 5%, to $5.88.
Among energy companies, MEG Energy took on 95 cents, or 5.6%, to $18.01, while Headwater Exploration charged ahead 38 cents, or 5.5%, to $7.32.
In materials, Ero Copper surged $1.39, or 7.5%, to $19.91, while Osisko Mining gained 25 cents, or 5.9%, to $4.51.
Consumer discretionary stocks took somewhat of a bruising, with Canadian Tire down $2.86, or 1.5%, to $188.27, while Martinrea International lost a penny to $7.92.
In utilities, Transalta Renewables dipped 75 cents, or 3.9%, to $18.59, while Hydro One loosed 62 cents, or 1.8%, to $34.75.
Financials didn’t emerge unscathed, either, with Laurentian Bank sliding 68 cents, or 1.7%, to $39.75, while TD let go of 58 cents to $94.01.
The Bank of Canada increased its target for the overnight rate by half a percentage point to 1%, with the Bank Rate at 1¼% and the deposit rate at 1%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 11.39 points, or 1.3%, to 892.51.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, with information technology soaring 2%, energy, racing 1.8%, and materials strengthening 1.6%%.
The three laggards were consumer discretionary stocks, dropping 0.7%, utilities sank 0.3%, and financials, sliding 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rallied on Wednesday south of the border as the corporate earnings season kicked off with mostly positive results, and traders looked past surging inflation numbers.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved skyward 344.23 points, or 1%, to 34,564.59.
The S&P 500 climbed 49.14 points, or 1.1%, to 4,446.59
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 272.02 points, or 2%, to 13,643.59.
BlackRock, Fastenal and Delta Air Lines all traded higher on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results. Delta also got a boost after the airline said it expects to return to profitability this quarter.
Other travel stocks surged as a group on the back of Delta’s higher forecast, which indicated consumers will continue flying this year despite surging inflation. American Airlines soared more than 8%, Southwest Airlines jumped past 6%, Expedia rallied 3.6% and Carnival Corporation jumped nearly 5%.
Chip stocks climbed higher with Nvidia rallying about 3%, Qualcomm jumping past 4%, and Advanced Micro Devices increasing almost 3%. Micron Technology also gained 2%.
To be sure, shares of JPMorgan Chase fell 3% after the banking giant reported a $524-million hit caused by market dislocations due to sanctions against Russia. The bank also posted a 42% decline in first-quarter profits. JPMorgan did manage, however, to report $31.59 billion in revenue for the period, slightly more than expected by analysts.
CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the bank was building up credit reserves because of “higher probabilities of downside risk” to the U.S. economy.
Meanwhile, PayPal shares dropped nearly 4% following an announcement from Walmart, which said Tuesday it hired PayPal executive John Rainey as its new chief financial officer.
On Wednesday, a report showed producer prices — wholesale costs that could eventually lead to higher retail prices — jumped a record 11.2% in March on an annual basis. The monthly gain of 1.4% topped the 1.1% estimate from economists polled by Dow Jones.
Treasury prices gained ground, putting yields back down to 2.70%, from Tuesday’s 2.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gathered $3.66 to $104.26 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $4.60 to $1,980.70 U.S. an ounce.