Equities in Canada’s largest market scaled an all-time peak on Wednesday after the central bank maintained its key overnight interest rate but opened the door to a possible cut should a slowdown in Canadian growth drag on.
The TSX Composite Index improved 47.91 points to reach noon Wednesday at 17,620.19
The Canadian dollar dumped 0.25 cents to 76.23 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Bombardier, which jumped 9.5 cents, or 7.4%, rising for the second day, to $1.39, after a report of talks to combine its rail unit with French peer Alstom.
Spin Master fell $1.71, or 4.8%, the most on the TSX, to $33.75, after the toymaker lowered its forecast for holiday quarter sales.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada’s new housing price index for December rose 0.2% in December, the largest monthly increase for the month of December since 2009.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.2% on a year-over-year basis in December, matching the increase in November. On a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.4% in December.
The agency also reported wholesale trade declined 1.2% to $63.2 billion in November, the third decline in five months.
The Bank of Canada did as expected, maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1.75% The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2% and the deposit rate is 1.5%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved higher 2.5 points to 584.96
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher nearing noon, with communications rocketing 1.6%, health-care taking on 1.3%, and information technology ahead 1.1%.
The three laggards were energy, down 1%, materials doffing 0.2%, and gold settling 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average erased gains of more than 100 points Wednesdsay as Boeing shares dropped to their lows of the day.
The 30-stock index came off its highs of the morning, maintaining gains of 27.51 points to 29,223.55
The S&P 500 regained 9.14 points at 3,329.93
The NASDAQ popped 51.23 points to 9,425.45. Both hit record highs after the release of strong quarterly numbers from IBM.
Boeing traded about 2% lower following a downgrade by a Vertical Research Partners analyst who said he is “throwing in the towel” on the airplane maker.
For its part, IBM saw its shares climb more than 4% on the back of quarterly numbers that beat analyst expectations. The company also issued 2020 earnings guidance that topped estimates.
These results put IBM "on its front foot for 2020," Nomura Instinet analyst Jeffrey Kvaal said in a note. "IBM is quickly pivoting its existing businesses toward the hybrid cloud."
So far, more than 10% of S&P 500 companies have posted their latest quarterly results. Of those companies, 75% have posted better-than-forecast earnings.
Tesla shares, meanwhile, rose 6.3% as the electric car maker’s market cap broke above $100 billion for the first time. Semiconductor stocks also hit an all-time high, as Intel and Qorvo advanced more than 2% each.
Airline and casino stocks rebounded Wednesday after falling sharply in the previous session. American gained 1.7%, and United Airlines took on 0.9%. Las Vegas Sands, meanwhile, advanced 0.2%.
Stocks pulled back slightly on Tuesday as worries over the spreading of the deadly coronavirus dampened investor sentiment. Those fears eased Wednesday after China unveiled measures to rein in the virus.
Overall, stocks are off to a strong start for the year. Through 13 sessions, the S&P 500 has closed lower just five times and is up 2.8%.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury lost their strength, raising yields to 1.78% from Tuesday’s 1.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid $1.37 to $57.01 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $1.30 to $1,556.60 U.S. an ounce.
