Energy and Commodities Stocks Boost Canadian Stock Market

Rising energy and gold stocks pushed the Toronto stock market slightly higher Wednesday.

The S&P/TSX composite index edged up 16.02 points to 14,978.39 with the American economy in focus.

The final revision to American economic growth in the first quarter showed that gross domestic product shrank a greater than expected 2.9 per cent. That was larger than the two per cent contraction economists had expected. However, the decline in performance was due in large part to severe winter weather and the damage to the economy was expected to be short-lived.

“Given the influence of temporary factors in Q1, growth should charge back to a 3.8 per cent pace in Q2 as inventory investment bounces back and as spending on consumer goods and business investment re-accelerates,” said BMO Capital Markets economist Aaron Goertzen.

The Canadian dollar ticked up 0.17 of a cent to 93.25 cents US as the greenback weakened in the wake of the data.

Other data showed that U.S. durable goods orders fell one per cent during May, against an expected one per cent gain. The drop was driven by sharp drop in demand for military equipment.

U.S. indexes were mainly higher with the Dow Jones industrials ahead 18.91 points to 16,837.04, the Nasdaq was off 0.4 of a point to 4,349.94 and the S&P 500 index added 0.58 of a 2.43 points to 1,950.56.

via Canadian Business

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