Canada’s main stock index vaulted on Monday following a surge in information technology shares, while rising long-term government bond yields and risks of a potential escalation in the Middle East conflict kept investors cautious.
The TSX Composite sprinted 157.94 points to greet Monday’s closing bell at 19,620.80.
The Canadian dollar prospered 0.17 cents at 73.45 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks rose, with Bausch Health Companies jumping 33 cents, or 3.4%, to $10.08, while Sienna Senior Living captured 20 cents, or 1.9%, to $10.62.
In tech issues, Bitfarms jumped 15 cents, or 11.6%, to $1.44, while HUT 8 Mining plodded forward 20 cents, or 8.5%, to $2.55.
Communications also fared well, BCE ahead 91 cents, or 1.8%, to $52.57, while Rogers Communications took on 71 cents, or 1.4%, to $53.49.
Utilities lost ground, as Brookfield Infrastructure units dipped $1.54, or 4.3%, to $34.00, while Boralex lost 85 cents, or 3%, to $27.19.
On the economic calendar Monday, Canadian manufacturing sales rose 0.7% to $72.4 billion in August, mainly on higher sales of the petroleum and coal, food and machinery subsectors. Statistics Canada also reported wholesale sales increased 2.3% to $83.0 billion in August.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said national home sales declined 1.9% month-over-month in September. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 1.9% above September 2022.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved ahead 4.25 points to conclude Monday at 533.38.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the green Monday, led by health-care, up 1.3%, information technology, up 1.2%, and financials, ahead 0.9%.
Utilities proved the lone laggard, down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks closed higher Monday as traders awaited a deluge of corporate earnings reports and shrugged off a rise in Treasury yields.
The Dow Jones Industrials heightened 313.39 points to close Monday at 33,983.68.
The S&P 500 index grew 45.85 points, or 1.1%, to 4,373.63.
The NASDAQ index catapulted 160.75 points, or 1.2%, at 13,567.98.
Nike led the Dow higher on Monday with an advance of 2.4%. All 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher in the session.
Earnings season heats up this week with 11% of the S&P 500 slated to report results. Some notable names on deck this week include Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Netflix and Tesla.
Those results follow a solid start to the reporting period. Brokerage Charles Schwab rallied more than 4% on Monday after surpassing Wall Street expectations for earnings per share in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and UnitedHealth rose Friday after posting their latest quarterly results.
Some on Wall Street are bracing for more volatility into year-end as yields and oil prices rise, inflation remains sticky, and conflict ensues in the Middle East. But a focus on earnings and what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates can give investors optimism in the short term.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, raising yields to 4.71% from Friday’s 4.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dumped 83 cents to $86.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $9.10 to $1,932.40.