Canada's main stock index opened appreciably higher in the first trading session of the year on Monday, supported by gains in materials stocks, while upbeat factory data for December bolstered optimism around an economic recovery.
The TSX leaped 140.4 points Monday to kick off the week, month and year at 17,573.76.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.11 cents to 78.70 cents U.S.
CIBC cuts the rating on Bombardier to underperform from neutral. Bombardier shares were flat at 48 cents.
RBC raised the target price on Lightspeed POS to $80.00 from $67.00. Shares in Lightspeed sagged $2.10, or 2.3%, to $87.74.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Pollard Banknote to $40.00 from $25.00. Pollard shares docked six cents each to $$35.68.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange popped 23.08 points, or 2.6%, to 898.14, after a spectacular in which the index gained 298 points, or 51.6%.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, on the shoulders of gold stocks, flying 5.7%, materials, up 5%, and health-care, jumping 4.1%.
The three laggards were financials, down 0.4%, information technology, backing off 0.1%, and industrials, sliding 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell slightly on Monday, the first trading day of 2021, following a wild but highly profitable year for investors.
The Dow Jones Industrials forfeited 237.01 points to begin the New Year at 30,369.47.
The S&P 500 faded 15.36 points to 3,740.71.
The NASDAQ slipped 13.05 points to 12,875.23.
Boeing was the worst-performing Dow component, falling 2.6%. Real estate fell 1.2% to lead the S&P 500 lower.
Tesla shares gained 4.8% on Monday, hitting an all-time high, after the electric carmaker said Saturday that it delivered 180,570 electric vehicles last quarter, beating expectations.
The 30-stock Dow ended last year with an advance of 7.3%, and the S&P 500 rose 16.3% in that time. At one point in 2020, the two market benchmarks were down more than 30% as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the global economy.
The real standout of 2020 was the NASDAQ, which surged 43.6% for its biggest one-year gain since 2009. The NASDAQ’s outperformance came as investors and traders flocked into tech stocks in the throes of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Unprecedented fiscal and monetary support for the economy — coupled with the development and rollout of multiple COVID-19 vaccines — helped the market recover from its massive drop to trade back at all-time highs.
The U.S. rollout of multiple COVID-19 vaccines has recently been slowed down due to supply constraints.
The head of Operation Warp Speed said on Sunday that the U.S. could ramp up its vaccine rollout by giving a group of Americans half doses of the drug developed by Moderna.
Moderna shares added 3.1%.
The number of coronavirus cases also continues to rise in the U.S., raising concern about the speed of the economic recovery in 2021.
Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed more than 20 million COVID-19 infections have been confirmed in the U.S., along with over 1.8 million virus-related deaths around the world. Several cases of a new coronavirus strain have also been confirmed across the country.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were slightly lower, raising yields to 0.93%, from Thursday’s 0.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped three cents to $48.49 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices screamed higher $42.90 to $1,938.00 U.S. an ounce.
