Canada’s main stock index rose on Monday as gains in the real estate and utilities sectors offset losses in energy shares, while markets assessed the implications of U.S. President Joe Biden’s exit from the election race.
The TSX Composite Index rebounded 99.31 points to 22,789.70.
The Canadian dollar swooned 0.28 cents to 72.67 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Air Canada lowered its full-year core profit forecast as over-capacity in certain markets impacted its pricing power. Air Canada moved into noon hour EDT down 71 cents, or 4.1%, to $16.36.
Sleep Country Canada’s shares rose $7.52, or 27.6% to $34.80 after insurance-focused conglomerate Fairfax Financial agreed to buy the retailer in a deal valued at $1.7 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.19 points to break for lunch at 578.90.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups moved upward, led by real-estate, ahead 1.4%, while health-care and utilities each tacked on 1%.
The three laggards proved to be consumer staples, skidding 0.4%, while materials and gold each docked 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 rose Monday, thanks to a bounce in tech shares, after the broad market index suffered its worst weekly loss since April last week.
The Dow Jones Industrials eked higher 11.52 points to 40,299.05.
The much-broader index gained 31.11 points to 5,536.11.
The NASDAQ soared 154 points to 17,880.94.
Nvidia popped 4%, recovering some of its 8% pullback from last week. Other major tech stocks such as Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Apple also rose more than 1%. Crowdstrike was the worst performer in the S&P, dropping nearly 11% and building on last week’s nearly 18% loss.
Tech stocks were under pressure last week as investors rotated out of those names in favor of smaller names — sending the S&P 500 lower by
nearly 2% last week. The NASDAQ shed more than 3% during that period.
Heading into this week, traders also kept an eye on the U.S. political landscape after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Since Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June, many analysts were seeing an increasing likelihood of a win by former President Donald Trump in November.
Earnings and central bank policy will also be top of mind. Traders have been pricing in nearly a 93% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates during its September meeting.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury waned, raising yields to 4.27% from Friday’s 4.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 33 cents at $79.80 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices floundered $11.10 to $2,388.
