Stocks finished the day with another tame result on Wednesday, with little in the way of economic news for investors to chew on and no decisive news from Greece in its struggle to come to an agreement over austerity measures.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 12,883.95, up 5.75 points or flat on a percentage basis. The broader S&P 500 closed at 1349.96, up 2.91 points or 0.2 per cent. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 12,521.02, up 8.60 points or less than 0.1 per cent.
Despite the slight gains overall, U.S. banks were generally strong: Bank of America Corp. rose 3.6 per cent and Citigroup Inc. rose 3.5 per cent – both closing at new highs for the year, as they rally on generally upbeat economic reports on housing and employment.
However, McDonald’s Corp. fell 0.9 per cent, after surrendering earlier gains when it reported that January global sales at stores open for at least one year rose more than expected.
Energy stocks were mixed after the price of crude oil rose to $98.71 (U.S.) a barrel, up 30 cents. Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 1.2 per cent but Canada’s Suncor Energy Inc. rose 0.3 per cent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., which fell sharply on Tuesday after it had to shut down its Horizons oil sands plant for repairs, continued to slide: It fell another 1.6 per cent.
Groupon Inc. rose 1.6 per cent in regular trading hours, before the company reported its first quarterly results since going public. It narrowed its loss to 8 cents a share and reported a 194 per cent gain in year-over-year sales. The shares fell sharply in after hours trading.
Meanwhile, Gildan Activewear Inc. rose 5.3 per cent in Toronto before reporting its quarterly results when markets closed. WestJet Airlines Ltd. rose 4.2 per cent after reporting net earnings of 26 cents (Canadian) a share, unchanged over last year.
Gold fell to $1,731.30 (U.S.) an ounce, down $17.10, which affected Canadian gold producers. Barrick Gold Corp. fell 0.4 per cent and Goldcorp Inc. fell 1.3 per cent.
