Canada’s main stock index gained on Monday as technology and energy stocks advanced, while investors looked ahead to an earnings-heavy week and interest rate decisions from major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The TSX added 50.99 points to break for lunch Monday at 20,598.50.
The Canadian dollar sprang up 0.32 cents to 75.92 cents U.S.
The technology sector rose as shares of Shopify gained five cents to $86.76 after MoffettNathanson upgraded the e-commerce firm to “outperform” from “market perform”.
Canadian earnings season will pick up pace this week, with railroad operator Canadian National Railway, telecoms major Rogers Communications and mining firm Teck Resources being some of the major companies reporting their quarterly results.
CNR reached noon hour down 64 cents to $156.07, while Rogers gained 22 cents to $59.50, and Teck took on 58 cents, or 1%, to $56.12.
Among individual stocks, TC Energy fell $1.67, or 3.2%, to $50.56, after the company entered into a deal to sell a 40% interest in its Columbia Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission pipelines for $5.2 billion.
Nutrien gained $3.20, or 3.8%, to $88.15 after Wells Fargo upgraded the fertilizer maker’s rating to “overweight” from “equal weight”.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 7.26 points, or 1.2%, over noon hour EDT to 609.40.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided midday, as energy gushed 1.8%, communications gathered 0.5%, and financials picked up 0.4%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by gold, sliding 0.7%, information technology, off 0.4%, and health-care, down 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Monday, headed for its longest winning streak since February 2017, to kick off a busy week of key earnings reports and a major policy decision from the Federal Reserve.
The 30-stock index roared ahead 171.23 points to kick off Monday at 35,398.92, on track for an 11th straight day of gains.
The S&P 500 added 19.18 points to 4,554.82.
The NASDAQ index hiked 32.07 points to 14,064.88.
Energy stocks led gains in the S&P 500, with the sector up more than 2% after oil and gasoline futures touched a three-month high Monday.
Chevron rose more than 2% after the oil giant reported preliminary second-quarter adjusted earnings Sunday that topped analysts’ estimates.
Earnings from some 150 companies in the S&P 500 this week plus the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting until September could try the recent rally. Investors anticipate the Fed will increase rates by a quarter percentage point at the conclusion of its meeting on Wednesday.
They will be listening to comments by Chair Jerome Powell to get a sense of the central bank’s position on what happens next as it tries to navigate a soft landing for the economy.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell a bit by noon Monday, raising yields to Friday’s 3.84%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on $1.80 to $78.87 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell five dollars to $1,981.60 U.S. an ounce.