Markets in Toronto opened higher on Wednesday, aided by energy and health-care shares, while investors remained cautious ahead of minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's May meeting.
The S&P/TSX gained 83.7 points to kick off the mid-week session at 20,369.90
The Canadian dollar moved backward 0.13 cents to 77.85 cents U.S.
Bank of Nova Scotia beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by continued declines in loan-loss provisions and higher revenues from its Canadian banking and international business.
Scotiabank shares galloped $2.56, or 3.2%, to $83.93.
Bank of Montreal beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, on higher interest income and lower credit-loss provisions offsetting rising expenses and lower wealth management and capital markets
earnings. Shares in “The First Canadian Bank” moved gingerly forward, five cents, to $133.10.
JP Morgan raised the target price on Enbridge to $62.00 from $61.00. Enbridge shares acquired 27 cents to $57.83.
Canaccord Genuity cut the target price on Capstone Copper to $9.00 from $10.00. Capstone shares docked two cents to $4.84.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 1.16 points to 699.50.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, with energy picking up 1.6%, health-care haler by 1%, and financials, better by 0.6%.
The two laggards proved to be gold, sliding 0.6%, and materials, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were little changed Wednesday as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s release of its policy meeting from earlier this month.
The Dow Jones Industrials tacked on 50.69 points to open for business Wednesday at 31,979.31.
The S&P 500 recouped 6.62 points to 3,948.10.
The NASDAQ Composite recovered 19.14 points to 11,283.59.
Investors are awaiting the latest meeting minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee, which are scheduled to be released at 2 p.m. ET.
At the May 4 meeting, the Fed hiked rates by half a percentage point, with Chair Jerome Powell saying that inflation is “much too high and we understand the hardship it is causing. We’re moving expeditiously to bring it back down.”
Dick’s Sporting Goods fell 3%, despite topping earnings and revenue estimates for its fiscal first quarter, after the retailer Wednesday cut its outlook for the year amid rising inflation and ongoing supply chain challenges.
Retailers have been on an earnings spree since last week that has held the attention of investors anxious to see how companies are managing sky-high inflation.
Nordstrom shares added more than 8% Wednesday after the retailer surpassed sales expectations and raised its full-year outlook.
Investors and analysts have pointed out that the ongoing retail wreck reflects a shift in consumers’ demand for services rather than goods, and some have suggested stocks may be getting overly punished for their results.
Elsewhere, Intuit jumped more than 5% after the tax software company reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, and raised its current quarter outlook. Tech stocks led market losses in the previous session, following a warning of slowing growth from social media company Snap.
Homebuilder Toll Brothers also posted quarterly results that beat analyst expectations, sending the stock up more than 3%. Lennar, D.R. Horton and Pultegroup were also among the S&P 500's top gainers Wednesday.
Traders will continue to parse through earnings reports this week to see how companies are handling inflationary pressures. Snowflake and Nvidia are set to post quarterly reports after the bell. Costco will report on Thursday.
Treasury prices inched higher, lowering yields to 2.75% from Tuesday’s 2.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 91 cents to $110.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $18.80 to $1,846.60 U.S. an ounce.
