Stocks Begin in Upward Direction - InvestingChannel

Stocks Begin in Upward Direction

Equities in Canada’s largest market opened higher on Thursday, mirroring the upbeat sentiment on Wall Street after signs of cooling inflation, while strength in precious metal miners’ shares also boosted the resource-heavy index.

The TSX sprang up 40.09 points to kick off Thursday at 20,494.41.

The Canadian dollar jumped 0.37 cents to 74.77 cents U.S.

In company news, several Teck Resources shareholders called for Glencore Plc to sweeten its takeover bid for the copper-and-zinc miner, saying the offer is still not high enough for them to oppose Teck’s own restructuring plan.

Teck shares began the session up 55 cents, or nearly 1%, to $58.37.

Barrick Gold said on Thursday its first-quarter gold production fell 15% sequentially, hurt by lower output at its Carlin mine. Barrick shares vaulted 36 cents, or 1.4%, to $26.75.

Corus Entertainment reported a loss of eight cents/share in its second-quarter results due to a drop in advertising revenue. Corus shares dropped six cents, or 3.6%, to $1.62.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange leaped 5.77 points to 641.65.

Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups found their way up in the first hour, led by gold, ahead 1.9%, materials, better by 1.3%, and health-care, soaring 0.9%.

The five laggards were weighed most by consumer staples and utilities, each down 0.4%, and industrials, sagging 0.2%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks gained Thursday after another report pointed to cooling inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrials regained 119.82 points to open Thursday at 33,766.32.

The S&P 500 recovered 27.09 points to 4,119.04.

The NASDAQ restocked 159.22 points, or 1.3%, to 12,088.56.

The March producer prices index, a measure of prices paid by companies and often a leading indicator of consumer inflation, declined by 0.5% month over month versus expectations for prices to be flat. Excluding food and energy, the core wholesale prices reading shed 0.1% month over month, much better than the 0.2% increase expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.

Wednesday’s release of March’s consumer price index report showed headline inflation pressures eased last month. The CPI advanced just 0.1% month over month in March. Consumer prices grew 5% on an annual basis, the smallest increase in nearly two years.

Traders’ sentiment turned in the afternoon following the release of minutes from the March Federal Open Market Committee meeting. In particular, the Fed expects the recent banking crisis to cause a mild recession later this year.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury stood pat, keeping yields at Wednesday’s 3.40%.

Oil prices backpedaled 38 cents to $82.88 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices took on $35.50 to $2,060.40 U.S. an ounce.

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