Stocks Stage Recovery

Equities in Canada’s largest centre rose at market open on Thursday, led by gains in cannabis stocks on reintroducing the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act in the U.S. Congress, while investors cheered upbeat sentiment on Wall Street amid robust earnings updates.

The TSX gained 87.73 points to begin the session at 20,454.45.

The Canadian dollar marched ahead 0.13 cents to 73.49 cents U.S.

As mentioned, cannabis concerns enjoyed upward momentum, particularly, Tilray Inc., jumping 28 cents, or 9.5%, to $3.23, while Canopy Growth gained five cents to 2.9%, to $1.78.

Elsewhere in company news, Glencore Plc said its takeover bid for Teck Resources still stands, after the latter scrapped a restructuring plan. Teck shares grabbed 30 cents to $61.65.

French oil and gas major TotalEnergies said on Thursday it had accepted an offer to sell its Canadian operations to Suncor Energy for $4.1 billion, with the potential additional payments of up to $450 million. Shares in Suncor gushed $1.02, or 2.6%, to $40.96.

On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported the number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer—measured as "payroll employees" in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—rose by 62,500 (+0.3%) in February, following an increase of 75,300 (+0.4%) in January.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange regained 1.33 points to 603.91.

Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, led by health-care stocks, up 2.8%, energy, better by 1.1%, and financials, improving 1%.

The four laggards were weighed most by industrials, down 0.9%, consumer discretionary stocks, weaker by 0.2%, and real-estate, sliding 0.1%>

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stocks rose Thursday, boosted by strong results from Meta Platforms

The Dow Jones Industrials sprang back to life 242.8 points to 33,544.67.

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The S&P 500 hiked 38.47 points to 4,094.46.

The NASDAQ Composite recovered 157.85 points, or 1.3%, to 12,015.01.

Meta shares leapt more than 13% as the company reported quarterly revenue that beat analysts’ expectations. The company also issued stronger-than expected guidance for the current period. Teladoc, Comcast and Merck were also among companies trading higher after reporting earnings.

But Caterpillar, which is often seen as a barometer of the global economy, traded down more than 3% despite the Dow member posting much better-than-anticipated results.

Amazon and Intel will share their quarterly results after the closing bell Thursday amid what has been seen as a major earnings week for the technology sector.

However, sentiment was kept in check after GDP data showed less economic growth than expected. The U.S. economy grew 1.1% in the first quarter, while economists polled by Dow Jones forecasted an expansion of 2%. The report also showed stronger-than-expected inflation, with prices increasing 4% compared with a consensus estimate of 3.7%.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury were lower, raising yields to 3.52% from Wednesday’s 3.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite
directions.

Oil prices reacquired 60 cents to $74.90 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices capsized $6.30 to $1,989.70 U.S. an ounce.