Equities in Toronto made slight gains in morning trade on Wednesday as heavyweight energy and financial stocks rose but were offset by falling gold miners.
The S&P/TSX Composite retained 1.93 points worth of gains to greet noon at 15,428.21
The Canadian dollar gathered 0.18 cents at 75.68 cents U.S.
Bombardier Inc advanced 4.1% to $2.57 after a consortium in which it has a 30% stake won a 1.16-billion-euro contract to supply commuter trains for the Paris region.
Among material stocks, Teck Resources jumped 6% to $31.40 and First Quantum Minerals rose 3.3% to $16.40, as copper prices traded just off a four-week high after Chinese and global economic data fueled expectations for firm demand this year.
The financials group gained, with insurer Manulife Financial up 1.2% at $24.84.
Corus Entertainment fell 1.9% to $13.02 after the media company's profit missed expectations.
Department store operator Hudson's Bay Co fell 5.9% to $9.56, extending a sharp fall to a record low in the prior session as its poor holiday season sales and lower outlook led several banks to slash price targets on the stock.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 5.07 points to 788.97
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the red Wednesday, with health-care moving lower 2.4%, gold tailing off 1.2%, and telecoms off 0.7%.
The four gainers were co-led by financials, materials, and industrials, each ahead 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities somehow kept their balance and more by midday Wednesday as Donald Trump delivered his first news conference as president-elect.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 77.97 points to 19,933.5, though negative readings by Johnson & Johnson put a damper on things.
The S&P 500 acquired 2.92 points to 2,271.63, even as Trump's comments weighed on the health-care sector, which dropped more than 1%.
The NASDAQ composite index added 1.79 points onto Tuesday’s all-time high, to 5,553.61, after Trump took a shot at the pharmaceutical industry.
Stocks in the U.S. have rallied sharply since Trump's victory, amid hope that the incoming administration will cut corporate taxes, deregulate certain sectors and inject fiscal stimulus into the economy.
That said, some of the president-elect's tweets have raised concerns among investors. Since Nov. 8, Trump has taken to Twitter to criticize companies that planned to send jobs overseas rather than create them in the United States. He has also threatened to levy a high border tax against those firms.
Wall Street also braced itself for the start of earnings season, as banking giants JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, among others, are slated to report quarterly results on Friday.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were up a bit, lowering yields to 2.37% from Tuesday’s 2.38%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.23 to $52.05 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices eked higher 50 cents to $1,186 U.S. an ounce.
