Canada's main stock index inched higher on Thursday, tracking gains in Wall Street after softer-than-expected U.S. producer prices data eased concerns about aggressive tightening of monetary policy.
The S&P/TSX Composite took on 64.43 points to kick off Thursday at 21,459.43.
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.47 cents to 79.98 cents U.S.
CIBC cut the target price on Boralex to $42.00 from $48.00. Boralex shares shed 47 cents, or 1.5%, to $30.33.
CIBC also raised the target price on Fortis to $61.00 from $58.00. Fortis gave up four cents to $58.99.
Finally, CIBC raised the target price on Keyera to $34.00 from $33.00. Keyera shares dipped three cents to $28.67.
Canada’s border agency says this country will allow unvaccinated Canadian truckers to cross in from the United States, reversing a decision requiring all truckers to be inoculated against the coronavirus.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 3.5 points to 920.02.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, as consumer discretionary stocks jumped 1.6%, financials increased 0.7%, and real-estate strengthened 0.3%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by gold and health-care, sliding 0.4% each, while materials dipped 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks moved higher on Thursday morning, building on a rebound from a rough start to the New Year.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 105 points to 36,395.32
The S&P 500 eked up 2.57 points to 4,728.92
The NASDAQ Composite sank 8.01 points to 15,188.39.
The markets were supported by some strong earnings reports. Delta Air Lines posted a beat on profit and revenue and reaffirmed full-year guidance, sending its shares up 1.5%. Shares of homebuilder KB Home rallied more than 10% after reporting better-than-expected earnings.
Elsewhere, Dow component Boeing rose about 2% following a Bloomberg News report that the company’s 737 Max could resume service in China as soon as this month. Payments stocks also moved higher, with Mastercard and Visa adding roughly 2%.
Thursday’s market moves came as another inflation report showed a historically high rise in prices but was not as bad as some economists feared. The December producer price index rose 0.2% month over month. That was below the 0.4% expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. However, the measure was up 9.7% year over year, which is the highest on record going back to 2010.
Elsewhere, initial jobless claims for the week ending Jan. 8 came in at 230,000, above the 200,000 projected by economists polled by Dow Jones forecast. However, continuing claims declined.
Markets also will be watching action on Capitol Hill, where Fed Governor Lael Brainard will be heading for her confirmation as vice chairman of the central bank’s policymaking Federal Open Market Committee.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys were unchanged, keeping yields at Wednesday’s 1.73%.
Oil prices added five cents to $82.69 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $9.40 to $1,817.90 U.S. an ounce.
