The TSX is up 33 points at midday, with the index lifted by gains in healthcare/cannabis stocks (+2%), miners (+1%) and energy (+0.93%).
The biggest decliner is the utilities sector, down 0.3%.
Oil rose to the highest in more than five months early on Wednesday after a report showed a drop in US inventories last week and higher demand for gasoline as OPEC+ staged a meeting that ended with no changes to its production cuts.
Gold rose for the seventh-straight record session, pushing closer to the US$2,300 mark for the first time on expectations lower interest rates are on the way, even as a report showed US private-sector employment rose more than expected last month.
Natural gas futures rose as cool spring weather is likely to offer a boost to demand amid swollen inventories of the fuel.
In terms of focus on economic matters, BMO noted it’s a busy day for Fed speakers, highlighted by Chair Powell discussing the economic outlook at the Stanford Business, Government, and Society Forum at 12:10 pm (all times ET).
On the domestic front, market watchers here await international trade data for February tomorrow. According to a Desjardins preview from last Friday, Canada’s trade balance is expected to have remained in positive territory in February. Inputs to its forecast suggest that lower auto production and oil prices (seasonally adjusted) weighed on exports. But, Desjardins said, higher volumes of crude oil likely mitigated much of the effect of lower oil prices. It also expects the slight depreciation of the Canadian dollar to have modestly supported imports. However, it doesn’t yet have US trade data for February, which creates some additional uncertainty around its estimate.
