Stocks in Canada’s largest centre were flat on Wednesday as consumer shares advanced and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International fluctuated through the day.
The S&P/TSX composite index settled back 4.41 points to close Wednesday at 13,403.42. The index has reduced declines for the year to 8%, trailed only by Singapore and Greece among developed markets.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.05 cents at 75.21 cents U.S.
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. added $1.05, or 1.7% to $62.13, headed for a record close, after the gas-bar and convenience store retailer raised its dividend and posted second-quarter earnings ahead of estimates Tuesday.
Valeant fell $1.01, or 0.9%, to $115.35, erasing losses of as much as 5% and rising as high as 2.8% before ending down.
The shares plunged in early trading after Sydney-based Bronte Capital in a blog posting identified 78 pharmacies with names alluding to chess moves or to Stephen King novels it claims are probably tied to the drug maker. The hedge fund has a short- selling position against Valeant that would let it profit on the stock’s decline, the company confirmed in an e-mail.
Bombardier Inc. rose the most in almost a month amid optimism that the new executive team will deliver on a plan to boost earnings at the struggling plane- and train maker in the next five years.
The stock rally followed an investor presentation that was the first since Bombardier secured $2.5 billion in investments from the government of Quebec and the province’s public pension fund manager.
Bombardier’s widely traded Class B shares climbed 14 cents, or 11.9% to $1.32. The stock jumped as much as 15%, the most in intraday trading since Oct. 28.
While no economic data came out today, some somewhat cheery news came out last night from the Bank of Canada. It stated that our economy is rebounding following a modest contraction in the first half of the year, boosted by non-energy exports and investment, which will help growth reach 2.5% in 2017.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 0.19 points to 519.17.
Seven of the 13 TSX subgroups were lower by the close, as metals and mining slid 1%, while energy weakened 0.9%, and gold lost 0.5%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by health-care, up 2.5%, while consumer staples improved 1.4%, and industrials moved up 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed narrowly mixed in low volume trade after a slew of data releases Wednesday, the last full trading day of the holiday week
The Dow Jones industrial average stayed positive 1.2 points to finish before the holiday at 17,813.39, with Pfizer the strongest and General Electric the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 ducked into negative territory 0.17 points to 2,088.97. Energy traded 0.6% lower after earlier falling more than 1%.
The NASDAQ index strengthened 14.6 points to 5,117.41
The data left intact expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 when it meets for the last time this year in mid-December
U.S. markets are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and the stock market closes at 1 p.m. EST on Friday.
In earnings news, Deere reported earnings that soundly topped expectations, while revenue missed slightly. The firm said equipment sales would drop about 7% for fiscal 2016 and 11% for the current quarter compared to a year earlier.
Hewlett-Packard posted its final earnings report before the company's split into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprises. The results missed expectations on both the top and bottom line. Separately, each of the new firms gave light guidance.
Shares of HP fell 13% while Hewlett Packard Enterprises traded up more than 3.5%.
Economically speaking, durable goods rose 3% in October. Non-defense, ex-aircraft capital goods orders surpassed expectations with a rise of 1.3% after a revised 0.4% gain in September.
Weekly jobless claims came in at 260,000.
October U.S. personal spending rose 0.1% while personal income rose 0.4%
The parade of data continued with October’s personal consumption expenditures price index, which improved 0.2% after a similar rise in September
Data on the housing market included a 3.2% decline in weekly mortgage applications, while the FHFA home price index showed a 0.8% monthly rise in September.
October new home sales showed a gain of 10.7%,
The University of Michigan's final read on November consumer sentiment came in at 91.3, up slightly from October's final read of 90.0.
The flash November U.S. Markit services PMI came in at 56.5, besting October's final read of 54.8.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained strength, lowering yields to 2.23% from Tuesday’s 2.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices forged ahead 18 cents a barrel to $43.05 U.S.
Gold prices dipped $4.74 to $1,070.91 U.S. an ounce.
