Canada's main stock index pointed higher late in the day Wednesday, taking cues from Wall Street peers, as cautious investors awaited leading chipmaker Nvidia's quarterly earnings due later in the day.
The TSX grabbed 25.69 points to close Wednesday at 25,036.46.
The Canadian dollar declined 0.13 cents to 71.52 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Fairfax Financial announced it intends to offer $450 million in senior notes due 2034 and $250 million in senior notes due 2054. Shares in Fairfax gained $27.27, or 1.4%, to $1,950.
The top gainers on the TSX index so far are International Petroleum up 61 cents, or 4.2% to $15.25, Vermilion Energy, up 20 cents, or 1.4%, to $14.35, and Baytex Energy, up seven cents, or 1.6%, to $4.20.
Tech stocks soared, most notably, Constellation Software, ahead $66.97, or 1.5%, to $4,503.07, while Dye & Durham gained 43 cents, or 2.4%, to $18.42.
In communications, Rogers docked 65 cents, or 1.3%, to $49.33, while BCE handed over 40 cents, or 1.1%, to $37.74.
Utilities slid as well, as Superior Plus fell 27 cents, or 4.2%, to $6.10, while Innergex Renewable hesitated 15 cents, or 1.8%, to $8.33.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 2.98 points to 596.25.
Six of the 12 subgroups were lower, weighed most by consumer discretionary stocks, off 1%, while communications shed 0.6%, and utilities fell 0.3%.
The five gainers were led by materials, up 0.5%, energy, ahead 0.4%, and gold, better by 0.3%. Health-care stocks were unchanged.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was little changed, with Nvidia shares slipping about 1% ahead of its highly anticipated earnings report. Investors also assessed disappointing results from Target
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 139.53 points to 43,408.47.
The S&P 500 eked higher 0.23 points to 5,917.21.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ dropped 21.33 points to 18,966.14.
All eyes are on AI darling Nvidia. The results could hold more significance than some key economic reports, given the chipmaker’s $3.6-trillion market capitalization, and set the tone for the market for the rest of the week. Investors will search for details on demand for its Blackwell AI chips, which CEO Jensen Huang last month characterized as “insane.”
Discount retailers Dollar Tree, Dollar General and Five Below declined more than 2.5% each. Amazon also slipped about 1%.
Comcast shares added 1.6% as the media company announced plans to spin off its cable networks, including MSNBC and CNBC. The separation is expected to take roughly a year. Comcast first hinted at a potential split during its October earnings call.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury lost ground, raising yields to 4.42% from Tuesday’s 4.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 44 cents to $68.95 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold took on $20.40 an ounce to $2,651.30 U.S.
