Baystreet.ca - Equities in Canada’s largest centre hit a two-week high on Tuesday, led by gains in health-care shares, while investors await a raft of corporate earnings and the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision to gauge the outlook for global monetary policy.
The TSX Composite Index gained 51.91 points to pause for lunch Tuesday at 22,831.48.
The Canadian dollar nicked ahead 0.01 cents at 72.20 cents U.S.
Shares of Filo Corp surged $2.57, or 8.7%, to $31.99 after global miner BHP Group and Canada-listed Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN) decided to jointly take over the developer for $4.5 billion.
Lundin shares dipped 20 cents, or 1.4%, to $14.04.
Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) slid $5.70, or 4.7%, to $115.15 after RBC (TSX:RY) cut its rating on the stock to "sector perform" and also lower the target price to $118 from $124.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slumped 0.25 points early Tuesday afternoon to 574.12.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, with health-care sprinting 2.8%, while consumer staples hiked 0.7%, and financials took on 0.6%.
The four laggards were weighed most by gold, dulling in price 0.6%, materials down 0.4%, and real-estate backing away 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell Tuesday, dragged lower by declines in mega-cap tech stocks, as investors braced for quarterly reports from names in that cohort. Traders also set their eyes on Washington as the Federal Reserve began its latest policy meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained positive 15.75 points to 40,555.68.
The much-broader index slid 39.66 points to 5,423.88.
The NASDAQ tumbled 232.14 points, or 1.3%, to 17,139.66.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares pulled back by more than 5%, while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shed 1%. Other tech-related giants such as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) also declined.
It is a big earnings week for mega-cap tech names. Microsoft is set to report after the bell Tuesday. Meta (NASDAQ:META) Platforms, Amazon and Apple are on deck for later this week.
The earnings season has been a solid one thus far. Of the more than 230 S&P 500 names that have reported, about 80% have beaten earnings expectations.
Investors will also watch closely for numbers from Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) after the closing bell.
The earnings season has been a solid one thus far. Of the more than 230 S&P 500 names that have reported, about 80% have beaten earnings expectations,
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained slightly, with yields falling to 4.16% from Monday’s 4.17%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices decreased $1.09 at $74.72 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shone brighter $3.70 to $2,381.50