TORONTO — Canada's main stock index eked out a small gain Wednesday despite losses in the energy sector as oil fell below US$70 a barrel, while U.S. markets rose as investors anticipate the upcoming central bank interest rate decision.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 29.25 points at 19,921.31, with the energy index down 2.3 per cent.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 189.55 points at 34,066.33.The S&P 500 index was up 40.07 points at 4,338.93, while the Nasdaq composite was up 202.78 points at 13,461.92.
Markets are in wait-and-see mode ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday rate announcement, said Ashish Utarid, assistant vice-president of investment strategy at IG Wealth Management.
Another hike of a quarter percentage point isn’t out of the question, he said, but neither is a pause.
“It’s almost 50-50 whether they’re going to raise or pause,” said Utarid.
But investors are almost equally awaiting the latest U.S. inflation data Tuesday, which will provide insight into what the Fed might do, said Ashish.
If inflation shows continued signs of weakening, the central bank might hit pause on its rate hikes, at least for the June meeting, but if it comes in hotter than hoped for, “CPI could be the driver to hike another 25 basis points,” said Utarid.
“I believe that the market will probably reprice their predictions after the CPI data gets analyzed.”
The Nasdaq outperformed the other indexes, gaining more than 1.5 per cent, but its growth over the past six months has been driven by just a handful of companies, said Utarid.
“Our view remains that it's a pretty frothy market for those top eight. But the rest of the index seems to be back to its base prior to October,” he said.
Oil dropped to near US$67 a barrel Monday, with a confluence of factors weighing on the price, said Utarid. These include an overall slowing global economy and weaker demand than hoped for out of China.
“It all comes down to slowing down the economy,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.82 cents US compared with 74.96 cents US on Friday.
The July crude contract was down US$3.05 at US$67.12 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was up a penny at US$2.27 per mmBTU.
The August gold contract was down US$7.50 at US$1,969.70 an ounce and the July copper contract was down four cents at US$3.75 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2023.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)
Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press
