Canada's main stock index opened higher on Thursday, lifted by metal and mining shares, while investors digested earnings from some of the big tech megacaps on Wall Street.
The TSX index zoomed 214.61 points to kick off Thursday at 25,687.91.
The Canadian dollar subsided 0.08 cents at 69.37 cents U.S.
Methanol supplier Methanex beat fourth-quarter profit estimates on Wednesday. Methanol shares climbed $2.20, or 3.1%, to $74.06.
On the macroeconomic front, Statistics Canada released payroll numbers for November. The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as "payroll employment" in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—decreased by 56,100 (-0.3%) in November, following three consecutive months of little change.
On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 142,900 (+0.8%) in November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 8.28 points, or 1.4%, to 621.87.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were stronger, led by gold, better by 2.7%, information technology, improving 2.6%, and materials, jumping 2.2%.
Only communications missed out, dropping 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 rose Thursday as Wall Street digested recent quarterly results from a slew of megacap tech companies. Investors are coming off a losing session after the Federal Reserve held steady on rates.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 111.75 points to 44,825.27, weighed down by a 4% slide in Caterpillar.
The much-broader index gained 19.02 points to 6,058.33.
The NASDAQ Composite collected 13.1 points to 19,649.04.
Shares of Meta Platforms and Tesla gained 2% and 5%, respectively, while Microsoft shares dipped more than 5% after the companies reported earnings. Meta beat on top and bottom lines, but Microsoft shares faltered after the company’s quarterly revenue forecast disappointed. Tesla shrugged off an earnings and revenue miss.
Investors were also a bit cautious to buy after fourth-quarter GDP growth came in at just 2.3%, missing expectations.
Other “Magnificent Seven” names are set to report in the coming days, with Apple’s results being due for a Thursday release. Amazon will soon follow suit, as the megacap tech company reports next week.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury vaulted, lowering yields to 4.51% from Wednesday’s 4.55%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked 56 cents to $73.18 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold brightened $45.00 an ounce to $2,838.50 U.S.
