After a slow start, North American stock market indexes moved higher by midday on Wednesday, driven by speculation over U.S. financials and modest moves by Canadian energy stocks and financials.
At noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 15 points or 0.1 per cent, to 10,580. The broader S&P 500 fared far better, rising 7 points or 0.6 per cent, to 1147.
The reason for the difference? The S&P 500 contains beaten-up financials, which moved impressively on a rumour that the U.S. government will soon implement a rule that government-controlled financial firms cannot be sold-short by investors. Financials gained 1.4 per cent, with considerably bigger moves by American International Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc.
In other moves, information technology stocks rose 0.7 per cent and materials rose 0.5 per cent. However, some of the more defensive subindexes within the S&P 500 fell slightly. Telecom services fell 0.4 per cent, utilities fell 0.2 per cent and consumer staples fell 0.1 per cent.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 43 points or 0.4 per cent, to 11,962.
Information technology stocks enjoyed the biggest gains, rising 1.4 per cent on strong gains by Research In Motion Ltd. Telecom services rose 1.3 per cent, energy stocks rose 0.5 per cent and financials rose 0.4 per cent.
