Canada's main stock index opened at a record high on Wednesday, as firmer precious metal prices lifted mining stocks, while solid corporate earnings propelled financial stocks.
The TSX added 68.38 points to begin the session at 34,038.76.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.03 cents at 73.01 cents U.S.
Automotive fleet manager Element Fleet Management reported fourth-quarter profit marginally lower than estimates in aftermarket earnings. Shares in Element Fleet doffed 99 cents, or 2.9%, to $33.47.
Investors will keep an eye on Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada, which will report their earnings before the bell. Shares in the “First Canadian Bank” began the day up $6.02, or 3.1%, to $201.08.
National shares captured $10.02, or 5.7%, to $187.48.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 15.31 points, or 1.4%, to 1,080.61.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower in the first hour, with consumer staples down 1.7%, energy 1.3% less energetic, and consumer discretionary stocks off 0.9%.
The five gainers were led by information technology, up 1.9%, financials ahead 0.6%, and gold, brighter by 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities rose on Wednesday, supported by Nvidia and Oracle, as stocks look to build on the gains from the prior trading day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tallied 92.84 points to 49,267.34
The S&P 500 index gained 31.07 points to 6,921.14.
The NASDAQ flew 216.31 points, or 1%, to 23,079.37.
Shares of Nvidia were up 1% ahead of its earnings report, which is scheduled to be released after the bell along with results from software giant Salesforce and Snowflake, due after Wednesday’s market close.
Nvidia’s report comes at a time when investors are recalibrating lofty tech stock valuations and growing skeptical on hyperscalers’ high AI capital expenditures.
Fellow artificial intelligence player Oracle jumped more than 4%, leading the continued bounce in software stocks, after the name was upgraded at Oppenheimer, which sees a “favorable” risk-reward profile in the wake of its recent pullback.
Software and cybersecurity stocks also saw a relief rally in the regular session after Anthropic launched a new connectors and plugins for its knowledge worker tool, Claude Cowork, that will allow companies to connect the AI tool to their existing apps such as Google Drive. Claude Cowork rattled the software sector in recent weeks as investors feared the tool would disrupt incumbent software vendors’ businesses.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury faded, raising yields to 4.05% from Tuesday’s 4.04%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 13 cents to $65.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shone brighter $34.40 to $5,210.70 U.S. an ounce.
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