Baystreet.ca - Stocks in Canada’s largest centre jumped Wednesday, following the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision, while most commodities recovered as a softer U.S. jobs report raised hopes of rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve.The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 103.43 points to kick off Wednesday at 22,081.61. The Canadian dollar let go of 0.15 cents at 72.97 cents U.S. In company news, waste management giant GFL Environmental is reported to have hired a financial adviser to review two buyout offers. GFL began the trading day ahead $1.95, or 3.9%, to $52.60
The Bank of Canada today reduced its target for the overnight rate to 4.75%, with the Bank Rate at 5% and the deposit rate at 4.75%. The Bank is continuing its policy of balance sheet normalization.ON BAYSTREET The TSX Venture Exchange edged up 1.3 points to 596.73. All 12 subgroups gained ground, led by utilities and materials, each up 0.9%, while information technology climbed 0.7%. ON WALLSTREET The S&P 500 gained Wednesday as AI-darling Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose to a record and weak labor market data gave investors hope the Federal Reserve might move to lower interest rates later this year.The Dow Jones Industrial sifted off 147.3 points to begin the mid-week session at 38,563.99.
The much-broader index grabbed 12.51 points to 5,303.85.The NASDAQ climbed 134.25 points to 16,991.30. Private payroll data from ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) showed hiring slowed to 152,000 jobs last month, far below the 175,000 economists polled by Dow Jones expected. The data is the latest sign of weakness in the labor market that investors hope will give the Federal Reserve enough evidence to cut benchmark interest rates.Traders also regarded data on activity in the services sector.
Business services PMI rose more than expected to 53.8 compared to an estimate from Dow Jones that called for 50.7. Attention will turn to weekly jobless claims numbers on Thursday and Friday’s all-important May jobs report. Job opening and labour turnover data from Tuesday morning showed 8.059 million vacancies in April, the lowest level in more than three years.Prices for the 10-year Treasury slid, raising yields to 4.34% from Tuesday’s 4.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Oil prices recovered 23 cents to $73.48 U.S. a barrel. Gold prices gained $9.10 to $2,356.50