Canada’s main stock index rose on Thursday as heavyweight energy stocks tracked gains in oil prices, while hawkish signals from Canadian and U.S. central banks eased losses. of certainty in their policy tightening plans this year.
The S & P/TSX Composite hit ground running, and gained 200.07 points, to start Thursday at 20,795.96.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.12 cents to 78.89 US cents
RBC raised the price target at AG Growth International to $ 45.00 from $ 42.00. AG shares gained $ 1.06, or 3.3%, to $ 33.15.
Citigroup raised its price target on Cenovus Energy to $ 21.00 from $ 17.00. Shares of Cenovus gained 46 cents, or 2.5%, to $ 18.83.
ATB Capital Markets raised the target price on Enerflex to $ 12.50 from $ 12.00. Shares in Enerflex walked forward 17 cents, or 2.6%, to $ 6.76.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said the number of employees receiving a salary or benefit from their employer increased by 37,200 (+0.2%) in November, the sixth consecutive monthly increase, bringing it within 0.4% of its level before the pandemic.
Moreover, The Bank of Canada will soon start raising interest rates from the lowest to fight inflation, Governor Tiff Macklem announced on Wednesday, saying the economy no longer needs help to deal with the effects of the pandemic. of COVID-19.
SA BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 2.09 points at 848.38.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups grew, with a leading 2.5%of energy, consumer discretionary stocks rose 1.8%, and better communications 1.5%.
Only gold missed out on the party, down 0.3%.
ON THE WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as investors thought about a better-than-expected fourth-quarter GDP report and an update from the Federal Reserve on its rate hike plan.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 455.12 points, or 1.3%, to 34,623.21.
The S&P 500 recovered 57.98 points, or 1.3%, to 4,407.91.
The NASDAQ rose 139.10 points, or 1%, to 13,681.22.
Netflix jumped more than 8% on news that Bill Ackman of Pershing had bought 3.1 million shares. ServiceNow rose 11.7% after better -than -expected quarterly results.
On the downside, Intel lost 6% and Tesla fell 5% despite strong earnings reports. Robinhood dropped 2% before reporting quarterly results after the closing bell.
Investors have continued to digest the latest monetary policy update as the Federal Open Market Committee has strongly indicated that the first interest rate hike since late 2018 could come as soon as March.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell angered the markets on Wednesday saying the central bank had “quite a bit of room” to raise rates before it negatively impacted employment.
Fourth-quarter gross domestic product jumped 6.9% from a year earlier, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. Economists analyzed by Dow Jones expect the economy to grow at a 5.5% annualized pace in the last three months of 2021.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys gained ground, lowering yields to 1.81% from 1.87% on Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields are moving in opposite directions.
The oil price added 33 cents to $ 87.68 US per barrel.
Gold prices lost $ 25.20 to $ 1,804.50 US per ounce.