Canada's main stock index gained on Tuesday lifted by data showing a surprise domestic trade surplus in April, although losses in energy and mining stocks capped gains.
The TSX forged ahead 21.26 points to move into lunch hour Tuesday at 20,056.46.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.05 cents to 82.68 cents U.S.
Blackberry jumped five cents to $19.06, off its highs of the morning but extending a rally in social-media favorites into a third week along with other
"meme stocks".
Denison Mines gave up earlier gains and dropped a penny to $1.71.
Vermilion Energy fell 10 cents, or 1%, to $10.20, while Crescent Point Energy was down eight cents, or 1.4%, to $5.56.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 5.29 points to 971.76.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative midday, weighed mostly health-care, down 1.3%, while gold sank 0.8% and materials lost 0.2%.
The five gainers were led by energy, ahead 0.9%, while industrials climbed 0.7%, and real-estate strengthened 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 clung to the flatline for a second day on Tuesday as the benchmark struggled to refresh its record.
The Dow Jones Industrials was off 3.74 points to reach lunch hour at 34,626.50
The S&P 500 forged upward 1.6 points to 4,228.12.
The NASDAQ jumped 17.22 points to 13,898.94.
Tesla erased earlier gains and fell more than 1% even after an increase in deliveries. The electric car maker delivered 33,463 China-made vehicles in that market in May, a 29% jump from April.
Boeing shares also rolled over and traded in negative territory. The stock gained earlier after Southwest Airlines said it is upsizing its order for the smallest 737 Max model by nearly three-dozen planes amid an improvement in travel demand.
The Reddit-fueled trading mania seemed to have spread to other stocks, notably Clover Health and Wendy’s on Tuesday. The health care startup soared as much as 100%, while shares of the fast food chain rallied 13%.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday it’s watching ongoing volatility in the market and vowed to protect retail investors.
On the data front, job openings in April soared to a new record high, with 9.3 million vacancies coming amid the grand economic recovery.
The standard set in April was well above the 8.3 million in March that itself was a new series high going back to 2000 for the Labour Departments Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
All eyes are on the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for June 15-16 as investors look for what Fed officials will say about inflation and monetary policy. Recent comments by officials suggest the Fed is beginning to prepare markets for tapering its asset purchases.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained ground, lowering yields to 1.53% from Monday’s 1.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite
directions.
Oil prices recovered 46 cents to $69.69 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices scaled back $4.50 to $1,894.30 U.S. an ounce.
