Stocks in Toronto left the bad times behind to begin a long Easter weekend, as strength in energy and telecoms trumped weakness in gold stocks.
The TSX Composite Index remained in the green 86.02 points to 24,192.81. During a short week, the index jumped 605 points, or 2.57%.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.12 cents to 72.27 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks were among the cellar-dwellers Thursday, as Tilray Brands falling four cents, or 6.1%, to the bottom of the benchmark index at 62 cents.
However, shares in Bausch Health Companies towered over Wednesday, 83 cents, or 13.%, to $7.07.
Energy stocks rumbled ahead, most notably, Athabasca Oil, gathering 24 cents, or 5.1%, to $4.98, while International Petroleum jumped 80 cents, or 4.2%, to $19.85.
Rogers Communications led its sector, hiking a dollar, or 2.9%, to $35.84, while Quebecor raced 72 cents, or 2%, to $36.13.
Gold stocks failed, with Equinox Gold tailing off 35 cents, or 3.5%, to $9.72, while Iamgold lost 40 cents, or 3.6%, to $10.83.
In materials, Endevour Silver slid 26 cents, or 4.7%, to $5.24, while G Mining Ventures dumped 79 cents, or 3.7%, to $20.56.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported Canadian investors acquired $27.2 billion of foreign securities in February, led by a record investment in U.S. equity securities, which more than offset the significant divestment in these instruments in January.
Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their exposure to Canadian securities by $6.5 billion.
Markets throughout North America are closed Friday for Good Friday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 5.04 points to 633.83, but jumped 18 points, or 2.92%, on the week.
All but two of the 12 subgroups were higher Thursday, led by energy, up 2.2%, telecoms, ahead 1.9%, and health-care, better by 1.7%.
The two laggards were gold, down 1.9%, and materials, off 1.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 ticked higher in choppy trading on Thursday, but finished the holiday-shortened trading week lower as tariffs continued to worry investors.
The Dow Jones Industrials staggered 527.16 points, or 1.3%, to end the day and a short week at 39,142,23. The 30-stock index was weighed down by a 22% decline in UnitedHealth following the insurer’s earnings miss.
The much broader index forged up seven points to 5,282.70.
The NASDAQ Composite dipped 20.71 points to 16,286.45. Both the Dow and the NASDAQ posted three days of losses.
Nvidia retreated almost 3% on Thursday, building on its drop of nearly 7% in the previous session. The artificial intelligence darling on Tuesday disclosed a quarterly charge of about $5.5 billion tied to exporting its H20 graphics processing units, or GPUs, to China and other destinations due to U.S. export controls.
While UnitedHealth and Nvidia weighed on the market, other well-known stocks provided upward momentum. Eli Lilly surged 14% after delivering positive trial results for a weight-loss pill. Netflix popped 1% ahead of the streaming giant’s earnings report.
Stocks also took a hit on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Trump’s levies could drive up inflation in the near term and are “likely to move us further away from our goals.” Powell said the central bank may find itself in a “challenging scenario” in which its dual-mandate goals — to achieve maximum employment and stable prices — are in tension.
The major averages posted losses on the week, which concludes with Thursday’s close as the market is dark for Good Friday. The Dow and NASDAQ each lost more than 2% week to date, while the S&P 500 slid 1.5%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were down Wednesday, boosting yields to 4.33% from Wednesday’s 4.28%. Treasury prices and yields in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on $1.90 to $64.37 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold fell $10.40 to $3,336 U.S.
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