By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 19,062.85 points, up +0.22% in the day’s trading, tracking Wall Street higher on earnings optimism and retracing the morning’s losses to eke out a gain at the close.
All TSX sectors barring energy, clean tech, and healthcare were in the green at the close, as relative return of risk on sentiment continued to be the theme of the day, with better than expected tech-earnings (today from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)) and anticipated blowout Q2 profits from big oil buoyed investor sentiment.
However, worries of an economic slowdown remain prevalent as signs and harbingers of a contraction continue to mount, including today’s U.S. unemployment data - with the number of Americans enrolling for unemployment benefits rose to the highest in eight months, and a 50 basis point hike by the European Central Bank - its first in over a decade.
Investors will be awaiting further direction from the U.S. Federal Reserve at next week’s policy meeting, during which a 75 basis point hike is widely expected. Perhaps even more crucially, investors will be awaiting second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product data, which is likely to be negative, inditating by the oft cited two quarter rule that the world’s largest economy is officially in a recession.
All TSX sectors barring energy, healthcare, and cleantech were in the green at the close, with the commodity heavy Canadian index most weighed by sliding oil prices as higher U.S. gasoline stockpiles and after a 50 bps rate hike from the European Central Bank further stoked worries of demand destruction, while the resumption of oil supply from Libya, and Russian gas flows to Europe eased concerns about supply.
Healthcare meanwhile was the worst-performing sector on the TSX today on profit-taking after yesterday’s red-hot rally following news of the much-awaited introduction of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act that seeks to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. The bill appears unlikely to pass a senate vote.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Mullen Group (TSX:MTL) Ltd., which rose 11.75% or 1.38 points to trade at 13.12 at the close. Pan American Silver Corp (TSX:PAAS) added 5.29% or 1.23 points to end at 24.47 and Lithium Americas Corp (TSX:LAC) was up 5.23% or 1.52 points to 30.56 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED) which lost 9.16% or 0.36 points to trade at 3.57 in late trade. Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSX:ACB) declined 7.08% or 0.15 points to end at 1.97 and Athabasca Oil Corp (TSX:ATH) shed 6.55% or 0.15 points to 2.14.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.51% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.99%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.36%.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.22% to 23.11 a new 3-month low.