Stocks in Toronto staged a mini-rally after Wednesday's opening bell, amid hope of an OPEC cut in oil production -- boosting prices in that area -- and word of an exciting new merger in the retail field.
The S&P/TSX composite index recovered 50.65 points from the debacle of the first two days of the month to begin trading Wednesday at 12,492.91.
The Canadian dollar popped 0.91 cents to 72.07 cents U.S.
U.S. home improvement retailer Lowe's said it would buy Rona Inc in a deal valued at $3.2 billion to enter Quebec, where Rona is the market leader.
RONA shares virtually doubled in the first half-hour of trading, taking on $11.69 to $23.46.
National Bank Financial cut the target price on CI Financial Corp to $31.00 from $34.00. CI shares erased 11 cents to $30.32.
BMO raised the rating on Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. to outperform from market perform. Innergex gained 41 cents a share, or 3.6%, to $11.82.
Cowen and Company cut the rating on Westjet Airlines to underperform from outperform. WestJet shares descended 38 cents, or 2.3%, to $16.25.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange reacquired 1.41 points, to 496.40
Nine of the 13 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, led by metals and mining, surging 1.9%, gold, up 1.5%, and materials, 1.1% to the good.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 1.9%, information technology, sliding 0.5%, and industrials, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded lower on Wednesday, erasing initial gains, despite an oil bounce and better-than-expected jobs data.
The Dow Jones industrial average docked 59.86 points to open Wednesday at 16,093.68. 3M contributed the most gains to the blue-chip index.
The S&P 500 lost 1.26 points to 1,901.77, as financials dropped 2%.
The NASDAQ index faltered 50.98 points, or 1.1%, to 4,465.97, as the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology ETF fell over 2%
The index turned negative after the Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing index reading for January came in weaker than expected.
ADP reported that private U.S. payrolls jumped 205,000 last month, above a consensus estimate of 195,000.
West Texas Intermediate prices jumped about 2% in mid-morning trading after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would be open to discussions about production cuts with OPEC. U.S. oil inventories are due at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 1.82% from Tuesday’s 1.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 62 cents a barrel to $30.50 U.S.
Gold prices shone brighter $5.54 to $1,134.55 U.S. an ounce.
