Canada's main stock index dipped on Wednesday as oil prices fell after producers delayed a decision on output, although losses were capped by hopes of a quick economic recovery after Britain approved a COVID-19 vaccine.
The TSX slid 20.39 points to open for business Wednesday at 17,276.54.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.03 cents to 77.29 cents U.S.
Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use, saying
it would start rolling it out early next week.
Royal Bank of Canada and National Bank of Canada beat analysts' expectations for fourth-quarter profit on lower loan provisions.
Royal shares gave back seven cents to $106.97. Shares in National sank 55 cents to $72.88.
Canaccord Genuity raises target price on Bank of Montreal to $103.50 from $94.50. BMO gained 27 cents to $96.79.
RBC raises target price on Dollarama to $64.00 from $60.00. Shares in the discount store chain picked up 35 cents to $53.13.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 0.28 points to open Wednesday at 757.39.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower in the first hour, with materials, gold and real-estate each down 0.8%.
The five gainers were led by health-care, charging 2.5%, energy, gushing 1%, and consumer staples ahead 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks dipped on Wednesday, taking a breather following a strong start to the month that lifted the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite to record highs in the previous session.
The Dow Jones Industrials began Wednesday tumbled 126.36 points to 29,697.56.
The S&P 500 settled 13.03 points from Tuesday’s closing high at 3,649.42.
The NASDAQ dropped 119.41 points from Tuesday’s all-time closing peak to 12,246.33.
Dow component Salesforce announced it is acquiring messaging platform Slack for $27.7 billion after the bell on Tuesday. The Slack deal marks the cloud software vendor’s largest deal ever. Shares of Salesforce were off 8.6%.
Investors digested more positive Covid-19 vaccine news on Wednesday. The UK authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use, marking another step in the global battle against the pandemic.
Wednesday’s losses came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a bipartisan proposal for a $908-billion stimulus package aimed at breaking the stalemate over new stimulus in Congress.
Equities were also under pressure after President-elect Joe Biden told The New York Times he would not immediately remove tariffs placed by the Trump administration targeting China.
Despite the positive vaccine data, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called the economic outlook “extraordinarily uncertain” on Tuesday when he and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke before Congress this week as part of mandated updates on CARES Act funding. Mnuchin did call on Congress for $300 billion in aid for restaurants heading into the winter months.
On the data front, private payrolls rose by 307,000 in November, according to ADP. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting 475,000 private jobs were added in November, compared to the 365,000 added in October. The number was also the lowest since July. ADP’s report comes days ahead of the U.S. Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury retreated, pushing yields up to 0.95% from Tuesday’s 0.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices acquired three cents to $44.58 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices rose $2.20 to $1,821.10 U.S.
