Equities in Canada’s largest centre opened slightly higher on Thursday, boosted by data showing the country added more jobs in April, while gains were limited by energy stocks tracking a fall in oil prices.
The TSX forged higher 13.53 points to start off Thursday at 19,430.56.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.3 cents to 82.78 cents U.S.
TD Securities raised the target price on Intertape Polymer Group to $38.00 from $35.00. Intertape shares took on nine cents to $30.02.
Scotiabank raises target price on Royal Bank of Canada to $140.00 from $133.00. Canada’s largest bank saw its shares dock 11 cents to $122.73.
CIBC raised the target price on National Bank of Canada to $98 from $89, National shares inched up eight cents to $92.41.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada said new home prices increased 1.9% in April at the national level, with prices up in 22 of the 27 census metropolitan areas surveyed.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 6.98 points to 943.59.
Eight of the 12 subgroups made their way into the green in the first hour, with information technology soaring 1.4%, industrials better 0.5%, and utilities strengthening 0.4%.
The four laggards were weighed most by energy, falling 1.4%, health-care, down 0.3%, and real-estate, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, rebounding from three straight days of losses as technology shares staged a comeback.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 68.4 points to begin Thursday at 33,964.44.
Wednesday was the third straight day of losses for the Dow, which is down 1.4% for the week. The average lost about 1% last week as the market rally to highs stalls.
The S&P 500 picked up 24.72 points, to 4,140.02.
The NASDAQ leaped 154.78 points, or 1.2%, to 13,455.46, as the so-called FAANG stocks all traded higher.
Shares of Cisco dropped 3% Thursday after the tech conglomerate issued weaker-than-expected earnings guidance for the current quarter.
Stocks’ rebound on Thursday followed a roller-coaster session on Wall Street triggered by a sudden drop in bitcoin, which led to a sharp sell-off in many speculative areas of the market. Cryptocurrency-linked shares, including Tesla, Coinbase and MicroStrategy, led the market decline as bitcoin tanked as much as 30% at one point Wednesday.
After touching nearly $30,000 at its low, bitcoin made back some of those losses later Wednesday. The stock market closed well off its lows as bitcoin rebounded.
On Thursday, the cryptocurrency was slightly higher at around $40,000, according to Coin Metrics. Coinbase shares were higher in early trading Thursday after Wedbush said to buy the crypto-exchange despite the volatility.
Investors cheered a better-than-expected jobless claims report on Thursday. The number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits for the week ended May 15 came in at 444,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Economist surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting 452,000 new claims.
On Wednesday, investors also digested the Federal Reserve’s minutes from April that hinted at considering tapering its asset purchase programs in upcoming meetings.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys were ahead, lowering yields to 1.64% from Wednesday’s 1.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved lower 58 cents to $62.78 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $3.80 to $1,877.70 U.S. an ounce.