TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index rose Tuesday, while U.S. markets were mixed after a bumpy day of trading that nevertheless saw most stocks rise even as a few big names dragged.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 52.26 points at 24,588.58.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 221.16 points at 42,518.28. The S&P 500 index was up 6.69 points at 5,842.91, while the Nasdaq composite was down 43.71 points at 19,044.39.
“It’s been a weird day,” said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments.
“We’re kind of in a pause mode right now. We’re waiting on economic data.”
A report on U.S. wholesale inflation came in lower than economists expected Tuesday.
That was a positive surprise, but investors are more interested in the consumer inflation report coming Wednesday, said Taylor.
“Everyone’s waiting for the CPI tomorrow (to) see if there’s any change to the path of inflation, because that’s going to be the big driver,” he said, adding that bond yields moving up over the past month have “spooked stocks” as investors pare back their expectations for interest rate cuts.
Wednesday will also bring earnings reports from some major U.S. banks, kicking off earnings season.
“This year, it’s really going to be all about earnings growth,” said Taylor, as valuations get stretched following a strong couple of years for U.S. equities.
“It’s putting more and more focus on earnings being strong to drive markets higher.”
Bank earnings are expected to be decent this quarter, he added.
Markets saw a small slump mid-afternoon, which Taylor said may have been led by Microsoft shares after a report about the company cutting costs, but markets recovered some of the losses by end of day, as did Microsoft’s stock price, closing down just 0.36 per cent.
The second-heaviest weight on the S&P 500 Tuesday was Nvidia, which fell 1.1 per cent, beat only by Eli Lilly, which fell 6.6 per cent after scaling back its revenue forecast for the last quarter of 2024.
Canadian telecommunications stocks helped drag the TSX lower Tuesday after Bank of America downgraded Rogers and BCE.
The Canadian dollar traded for 69.58 cents UScompared with 69.39 cents US on Monday.
The March crude oil contract was down 93 cents at US$76.37 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was up four cents at US$3.97 per mmBTU.
The February gold contract was up US$3.70 at US$2,682.30 an ounceand the March copper contract was up a penny at US$4.34 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
