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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index rose Tuesday, led by energy and base metal stocks, while U.S. markets also moved higher, with the S&P 500 and the Dow again hitting new records.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 57.51 points at 23,952.22.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 83.57 points at 42,208.22. The S&P 500 index was up 14.36 points at 5,732.93, while the Nasdaq composite was up 100.25 points at 18,074.52.

The gains came on the heels of a surge in Chinese stocks after the country’s central bank introduced several measures intended to boost its economy.

“All in all, a good package for really supporting what’s been a flagging area of their economy, which is the real estate market,” said Steve Locke, chief investment officer for fixed income and multi-asset strategies at Mackenzie Investments.

The move followed last week’s half-point interest rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which Locke said was a relief to investors.

Both central banks also exceeded expectations with the magnitude of their easing policies, said Locke.

“Not everyone was calling for that big of a rate cut from the Fed,” he said.

“This has generally been good news for markets.”

Though central banks around the world aren’t moving in lockstep, Locke said larger economies have been generally easing their monetary policies after they tightened to fight inflation.

Not only are central banks including the Fed and the Bank of Canada cutting rates, they’re also indicating that more cuts are coming, said Locke.

“The Fed will likely be delivering those as long as inflation stays in a sort of downward trajectory, or at the very least is sideways,” he said.

“If we start to see an uptick in inflation or worries about that, then we may see the bond market starting to react.”

Looking ahead, the looming U.S. election “will be on the market’s mind increasingly as we go into October,” said Locke. It could be a source of volatility in the market, he said.

The Canadian dollar traded for 74.25 cents UScompared with 74.02 cents US on Monday.

Oil prices rose Tuesday, continuing a recent steady climb back above US$70 per barrel.

The November crude oil contract was up US$1.19 at US$71.56 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down six cents at US$2.79 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$24.70 at US$2,651.20 an ounceand the December copper contract was up 14 cents at US$4.49 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

VICTORIA – Former British Columbia chief coroner Lisa Lapointe has emerged from retirement to throw her weight behind a BC Green’s campaign pledge to expand safer supply of opioids and other drugs to deal with the province’s deadly overdose crisis.

Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau says other party leaders have indulged in “dehumanizing rhetoric” against drug users that she says is unacceptable.

Furstenau says a broader system of prescribed safer supply of drugs, including fentanyl, is needed, as well as a “demedicalized model” to reduce stigma and barriers in the current system.

The Greens are also pledging an evidence-based standard for treatment and recovery, with Lapointe saying there’s a lack of evidence that compulsory drug treatment plans pushed by other parties will work.

Lapointe, who joined Fursteanu at a Victoria news conference, retired earlier this year after 13 years on the job and in the midst of the toxic drug crisis that has killed more than 15,000 people since a health emergency was declared in 2016.

Before her retirement, Lapointe lamented that the emergency never received a “a co-ordinated response commensurate with the size of (the) crisis.”

In her final months as chief coroner, a review panel recommended providing controlled drugs without prescriptions but the idea was almost immediately rejected by the provincial government.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, NDP Leader David Eby is in Terrace in B.C.’s northwest looking to win back the Skeena riding being vacated by Ellis Ross, who held the seat for BC United, but will now run in the federal election for the Conservatives.

The BC NDP announced it had nominated candidates in all 93 ridings for the Oct. 19 election. The party says the slate is 60 per cent women.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad was scheduled to spend the morning making an announcement in Kimberly, in the Kootenays, followed by a meet-and-greet 30 kilometres south in Cranbrook.

All three leaders are scheduled to debate each other two days before advance polling opens.

A consortium of broadcasters announced the Oct. 8 debate will air from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on all major television and radio news networks and be moderated by Angus Reid Institute president Shachi Kurl.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

HAILEYBURY, Ont. – The complainant in Jacob Hoggard’s sexual assault trial says she attended a concert by his band Hedley in Kirkland Lake, Ont., the night of the alleged assault in June 2016.

The woman said during brief testimony this afternoon that she was 19 years old at the time and attended an after-party with band members and other teen girls after the show.

The Crown and defence agree that the complainant, Hoggard, other band members and other members of the public attended a bonfire that night behind the Comfort Inn, where the band was staying.

An agreed statement of facts read out in court also established that Hoggard and the complainant had a sexual encounter in Hoggard’s hotel room, which prosecutors are seeking to prove was not consensual.

Hoggard has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault in the trial.

The Crown said in an opening statement that it expects the complainant to testify about an alleged assault that involved vaginal penetration, attempted anal penetration, choking and slapping.

Her testimony is expected to continue on Wednesday morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.