Investors Cheer Tariff Pause, TSX Fires Higher
The TSX regained 273.39 points to commence Wednesday at 36,741.32.
The Canadian dollar shed 0.34 cents, to 72.28 cents U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced late on Tuesday he was putting a three-day pause on new 50% tariffs that were set to go into effect on Canadian goods on Wednesday, saying the two countries had reached a deal.
Following the announcement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that "substantial progress has been made, although there is important work still to be done."
Separately, investors monitored developments in the Middle East conflict and awaited the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's July meeting for clues on the central bank's interest rate trajectory.
Oil prices hit a three-week high as uncertainty over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing supply disruptions persisted.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange surged 17.46 points, or 1.9%, to 962.33.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, led by gold, brighter 6.4%, materials, up 5.2%, real-estate, inching up 0.1%.
The three laggards were financials, shedding 0.7%, health-care, sliding 0.2%, and utilities, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Wednesday as Treasury yields fell after the Treasury Department announced an increased buyback operation for longer-term debt.
The 30-stock index recovered 240.64 points to 53,584.04.
The S&P 500 hiked 24.83 points to 7,716.59.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 15.05 points to 26,721.67.
Moderna almost doubled, soaring more than 90% and heading for its best day on record after an experimental skin cancer vaccine developed with Merck showed success in a late-stage trial. Merck shares jumped more than 7%, supporting the Dow.
Shares of Marvell Technology gained more than 12% after announcing an agreement with Google related to its tensor processing units and issuing Alphabet a warrant to buy as much as almost 59 million shares of Marvell common stock.
The latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes are set to release Wednesday afternoon. Investors will likely take a keen eye to the minutes, given the sharp divisions within the central bank. At the July meeting, there were three dissenters voting to hike rates, a division that investors will seek greater detail on.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury popped, lowering yields to 4.65% from Tuesday’s 4.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on 53 cents to $85.47 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices climbed $94.10 to $4,514.70 U.S. an ounce.