By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com — The TSX eked out a gain at midday as Wall Street remained muted with investors awaiting a monetary policy announced from the US Federal Reserve. Investors are expecting a 25 basis move, reduced from expectations for a 50 point hike prior to the unfolding of the banking crisis.
The commodity heavy Canadian index was also supported by gains in crude, as prices stabilized as baking fears receded, and as the dollar weakened ahead of the Fed.
The Biggest Stories on Bay Street
Activist investor Engine Capital LP is urging Parkland Corp (TSX:PKI). to explore strategic alternatives for company's non-core assets and focus on fuel and convenience store retail. In a letter to the Parkland board of directors, Engine is asking the board to consider strategic alternatives including the possibility of selling or spinning off the Burnaby refinery and the company's heating oil and propane distribution businesses. Engine owns about a 2% stake in Parkland.
Canadian Stocks Moving Markets Today
Top Gainers:
Top Losers:
In Canadian Economics
The Bank of Canada is set to release its summary of deliberations at 1:30 p.m. ET. It’s only the BoC’s second every summary of deliberations, essentially meeting minutes to explicate its decision to continue to hold rates on March 8, 2023. Going by the first ever summary provided by the Bank for its January meeting, it is likely to be a sparse document, but should offer insights on the BoC’s decision to potentially diverge from the Fed in this rate-hiking cycle.
A Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY) report predicts the gap between rental housing availability and demand will quadruple to 120,000 units by 2026 if inventory is not significantly boosted. The report says Canada needs to add 332,000 rental units over the next three years, a 20% per cent increase over the 70,000 units built last year. This is the level of supply needed to reach the optimal vacancy rate of 3. %Canada's vacancy rate fell to its lowest point in 21 years in 2022, at 1.9%.
Some good news for Quebec residents. The province is lowering income taxes on the lowest two tax brackets by a single percentage point. The move is set to potentially reduce provincial revenue by about $9.2 billion over the next five years.