Equities in this country rose on Wednesday along with crude oil, as energy and raw-materials producers climbed, offsetting a slump in technology shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index jumped 78.22 points to close Wednesday at 13,887.66
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.12 cents to 79.23 cents U.S.
Energy producers climbed, as Cenovus Energy added 31 cents, or 1.6% to $19.18, after reporting lower production and operating costs in the first quarter from year-ago levels, offsetting a wider operating loss than analysts expected.
The oil and gas producer said the quarterly results are not indicative of potential performance for the rest of the year.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. added 52 cents, or 2.3%, to $23.09, before its earnings report on Thursday, while Goldcorp gained 42 cents, or 1.9%, to $22.60, as gold prices climbed for a third day.
Among tech issues – today’s biggest loser -- DH Corp. sank $3.53, or 9.5%, the most since October, to $33.70, after the financial technology services company posted first-quarter earnings short of the lowest analyst estimate, while revenue also fell short.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 0.52 points to 657.96, after something of a seesaw day.
All but three of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, as metals and mining issues screamed 3.9% higher, utilities performed 1.8% better, and materials climbed 1.3%.
The three laggards were information technology, down 1.3%, health-care, off 0.5%, and consumer discretionary issues, off 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
American stocks traded in a range Wednesday, amid sharp declines in Apple shares on disappointing earnings, as investors perused the statement by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrials finished the day ahead 51.23 points to 18,041.55. Apple contributed the most to declines, with Boeing and Goldman Sachs the top contributor to gains.
The S&P 500 recovered 4.97 points to 2,086.67, with telecoms and energy leading, and tech lagging.
The NASDAQ Composite Index came off its lows of the day, but still finished negative 25.14 points to 4,863.14, erasing gains for April so far, weighed by declines in Apple, Amazon.com, Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook, which was due to report earnings after the close.
The NASDAQ is more than 7% below its 52-week intraday high, while the Dow and S&P 500 are about 2% below that level.
Apple revenues missed expectations and dropped roughly 13% from the same period last year, falling for the first time since 2003 as iPhone sales had their first year-over-year decline. Earnings were 10 cents short of expectations at $1.90 U.S. a share. The firm did increase its dividend by 10% and raised its capital return program by $50 billion U.S.
Shares briefly fell more than 8% before holding about 6% lower in late-morning trade
In other earnings news, Boeing reported earnings that missed the target but revenues that beat their targets
Comcast briefly rose more than 2% in morning trade for the most positive impact on the NASDAQ. The parent company of NBCUniversal posted earnings that beat on both the top and bottom line. Comcast saw growth across virtually all its business segments and its biggest first-quarter jump in TV customers in nine years.
Separately, overnight there were reports that Comcast is in talks to buy DreamWorks.
The Fed kept rates unchanged and continues to expect "only gradual increases" in the Fed funds rate.
The Federal Open Market Committee's post-meeting statement said, "economic activity appears to have slowed" and that "growth in household spending has moderated, although households' real income has risen at a solid rate and consumer sentiment remains high."
Economically speaking, U.S. pending home sales rose 1.4% in March.
Total mortgage application volume decreased 4.1% last week on a seasonally-adjusted basis from the previous week, according to the U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association.
The Bank of Japan is set to release its statement on monetary policy Thursday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to 1.86% from Tuesday’s 1.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added $1.27 a barrel to $45.31 U.S.
Gold prices gained $1.28 to $1,244.68 U.S. an ounce.
