Canada’s main stock index opened higher on Wednesday, aided by gains in precious metals miners, while Alamos Gold rose after announcing its merger deal with smaller rival Argonaut.
At 9:30 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Index was up 47.87 points, or 0.22%, at 21,960.39.
Wall Street’s main indexes gained at the open on Wednesday as chipmakers and growth stocks rebounded in light trading ahead of crucial economic data, commentary from the Federal Reserve’s policymakers and a long holiday weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 179.65 points, or 0.46%, at the open to 39,461.98.
The S&P 500 opened higher by 22.73 points, or 0.44%, at 5,226.31, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 109.06 points, or 0.67%, to 16,424.76 at the opening bell.
The Dow and the S&P 500 recorded their third consecutive declines on Tuesday, as most megacaps were pressured and stocks struggled to maintain an upwards momentum.
Investors looked forward to comments from Fed Board Governor Christopher Waller, who is set to speak at the Economic Club of New York later in the day.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE), the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, is due on Good Friday, when the U.S. stock market will be closed.
An upside surprise to inflation could potentially dampen market enthusiasm around early rate cuts.
Also on tap this week is the final fourth-quarter GDP print, the University of Michigan’s reading of consumer sentiment and weekly jobless claims data.
All three major U.S. stock indexes eye quarterly gains as an artificial intelligence-inspired rally helped Wall Street reach record highs recently and optimism about the Fed cutting borrowing costs later in the year added to gains.
Traders see a 70% chance the Fed will begin its easing cycle in June, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
“The market is just doing a little bit of consolidation… people are just wondering what’s the next catalyst to drive stock prices,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth Management.
“The focus on AI is just continuing to power interest in technology, and especially the semiconductors and the companies that make AI happen.”
On Friday, the government will report on a measure of inflation that’s closely tracked by the Fed and could play into its next rate policy decision. Later that day, Fed Chair Powell will take part in a webcast discussion of interest-rate policy at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Investors and economists will be looking for clues about when the U.S. central bank might start cutting rates.
Progress on bringing inflation down has become bumpier recently, with reports of costs coming in hotter than expected this year after a rapid pull back in prices in late 2023. Despite that, the broad expectation is for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its main interest rate in June. There is some speculation that a cut may be announced at the Fed’s next policy meeting in early May.
Rate cuts are expected to give markets a boost, but some analysts say a broader range of companies will need to deliver strong profit growth to justify their big moves in price.
After such a hot streak, there are questions over whether the market has become overvalued in general. This week, Trump Media & Technology Group exploded out of the gate after an initial public offering, though the Truth Social media company has been bleeding money and not gaining a whole lot of users.
Trump Media continued to rise Wednesday, jumping 19.3% in early trading. It’s just the second day of trading for the company under its new ticker, “DJT,” which are the initials of former President Donald Trump. It’s shares climbed more than 16% on Tuesday as well.
The stock’s price has shot well beyond what several experts say is reasonable, driven by excitement about Trump’s latest run for the White House.
In Asia, Chinese shares slipped even as China’s central bank governor told a high-level business conference in Beijing that the ailing property industry was showing signs of recovery and that the impact from defaults of dozens of developers was limited.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.4% to 16,392.84 and the Shanghai Composite index was down 1.3% at 2,993.14.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% to 40,762.73 and the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5% to 7,819.60.
In Bangkok, the SET rose 0.3%. India’s Sensex was up 0.8% and the Taiex in Taiwan closed 0.4% higher.
In Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.3%, while Germany’s DAX added 0.5% and Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4%.
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 42 cents to $81.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 45 cents to $85.18 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 151.22 Japanese yen from 151.56 yen. The euro fell to $1.0819 from $1.0833.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,203.58, for its third straight modest drop since setting an all-time high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to 39,282.33, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4% to 16,315.70.
