Stocks Continue Ascent
The TSX Composite came off its highs of the morning but remained buoyant 51.67 points to approach noon hour EDT Wednesday at 19,552.87.
The Canadian dollar backpedaled 0.12 cents at 73.49 cents U.S.
Shares of Rubik's Cube-owner Spin Master rose $1.80, or 5.3%, to $35.52 after the toys and games-maker said it will buy U.S.-based toy-maker Melissa & Doug for $950 million in cash.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada informs us that building permits jumped 3.4% in August to $11.9 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged ahead 0.86 points to break for lunch Wednesday at 534.95.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with gold brighter 1.1%, information technology collecting 1%, and consumer discretionary stocks up 0.9%.
The two laggards proved to be energy, down 1.6%, and health-care, retreating 1.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were mixed on Wednesday as investors shook off hotter-than-expected inflation data and cheered a large merger in the energy space. Treasury yields continued to retreat from the 16-year highs reached last week.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 37.05 points, to observe noon hour Wednesday at 33,702.35.
The S&P 500 index sank 0.56 points to 4,357.68.
The NASDAQ index stayed stoically in plus territory 40.31 points at 13,603.15.
Earlier Wednesday, Exxon Mobil agreed to buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock transaction worth $59.5 billion, the largest merger announced on Wall Street this year. Pioneer shares were up 0.5%, while Exxon was down by about 4.7%.
Investors continue to assess the ongoing war unfolding between Israel and Hamas after the militant group launched an attack on Israeli civilians in what marked the deadliest offensive the country’s experienced in 50 years. President Joe Biden condemned the Hamas attacks as terrorism in remarks Tuesday and said that the United States stands with Israel.
The producer price index rose 0.5% for September, coming out higher than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.3% rise. While slightly higher than what economists expected, the September figure still represented a slowing from the 0.7% producer prices increase in the prior month.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting due in the afternoon will offer further insight into the central bank’s hiking cycle after it chose to skip an interest rate increase last month.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 4.57% from Tuesday’s 4.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices handed back $2.23 to $83.74 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $10.40 to $1,885.70.
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