Stocks in Canada’s largest centre turned from earlier losses and actually gained by midday Thursday, as tech and gold stocks led the way out of the cave in which markets have found themselves this week.
The S&P/TSX moved into the green 107.08 points, to break for lunch hour at 20,208.46.
The Canadian dollar moved sharply forward, 0.49 cents at 78.10 cents U.S.
Gold stocks led the charge Thursday morning, with
In earnings, Canada Goose Holdings gained $1.76, or 8%, to $26.50 after the company forecast annual earnings and revenue above Wall Street expectations after reporting a surprise quarterly profit, encouraged by strong demand for its luxury parkas and jackets.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reports its industrial product price index rose 0.8% month over month in April and was up 16.4% year over year.
Its raw materials price index decreased 2.0% on a monthly basis in April and rose 38.4% year over year.
Elsewhere, the agency reported new home prices in April rose 0.3% compared with March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange galloped 9.42 points, or 1.4%, to 700.59.
By noon, seven of the 12 TSX subgroups had acquired strength, as gold brightened 4.6%, information technology clicked higher 4.3%, and materials surged 3.5%.
The five subgroups which remained negative were weighed most by industrials, sagging 0.8%, communications, off 0.7%, and utilities, dipping 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 rose on Thursday as the benchmark tried to claw back previous losses, and avoid falling into a bear market.
The Dow Jones Industrials had made progress against the breakeven point, but still trailed that point 101.76 points, or 3.6%, to move into noon hour at 31,388.31, a day after it experienced the biggest one-day drop since 2020.
The S&P 500 gained 9.78 points to 3,933.46, putting it about 19% below its intraday record reached in January. It also sits more than 18% below its record closing level. A close of 20% or more below its all-time high would mark a bear market, its first since the March 2020 pandemic selloff.
The NASDAQ Composite strengthened 127.03 points, or 1.1%, to 11,545.19.
On Wednesday, the Dow fell more than 1,100 points, marking its worst sell-off in nearly two years. The S&P 500 also suffered its worst one-day decline since June 2020, losing about 4%, and the NASDAQ fell 4.7%.
Those losses were driven in part by back-to-back quarterly reports from Target and Walmart that showed higher fuel costs and restrained consumer demand hurting results amid the hottest inflation in decades. Even after a 24% drop on Wednesday, Target shares were lower again Thursday by 2%.
A rebound in tech stocks boosted the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ. Shares of Synopsys gained 12% in Thursday trading after the software company posted an earnings beat. Cloud company Datadog’s stock price jumped 12%.
Meanwhile, U.S. weekly jobless claims rose to 218,000 for the week ending May 14, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday, the latest hint that economic growth is slowing.
Treasury prices gained ground, lowering yields to 2.83% from Wednesday’s 2.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 83 cents to $110.42 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $27.70 to $1,843.60 U.S. an ounce.
