Canadian Market Remains In Positive Territory At Noon

(RTTNews) - Despite coming off early highs, the Canadian market remains in positive territory around noon on Thursday thanks to strong gains in technology, materials and healthcare stocks.

Dovish comments from the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday, signaling a likely slowdown in the pace of interest rate hikes by the central bank continue to aid sentiment.

Investors are also digesting earnings updates from major banks, and the latest batch of Canadian economic data.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to 20,639.48 earlier in the session, is up 71.68 points or 0.35% at 20,524.94 a little before noon.

The Health Care Capped Index is up 3.7%. Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) shares are soaring nearly 10%. Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is gaining nearly 4% and Cronos Group (CRON.TO) is climbing 3.6%. Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) is advancing more than 2%.

The Information Technology Capped Index is up 2.7%. Haivision Systems (HAI.TO) is rising 6.2%, while Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO) are rising 4 to 6%.

The Materials Capped Index is surging more than 2%. Oceanagold Corp (OGC.TO) is zooming nearly 12%. Equinox Gold (EQX.TO) is rising nearly 8%, while Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) and Kinross Gold (K.TO) are up 7% and 6.8%, respectively. Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO), Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO) and Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) are also up sharply.

Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) reported fourth-quarter net income of $4,483 million, compared with $2,159 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted net income came in at $2,136 million for the fourth quarter, compared with $2,226 million a year ago. The stock is down by about 0.6%.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is down more than 4% after reporting a drop in earnings. The bank reported a net income of $1,185 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with net income of $1,440 million in the year-ago quarter.

TD Bank Group (TD.TO) shares are up 1.7%. The bank reported fourth-quarter net income available to common shareholders of C$6.56 billion or C$3.62 per share, up sharply from C$3.72 billion or C$2.04 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On the economic front, Markit Economics said the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.6 in November of 2022, from 48.8 in September, marking the fourth straight month of contraction in manufacturing activity.

Data from Statistics Canada showed labor productivity for Canadian businesses rose by 0.6% in the third quarter, after a downwardly revised 0.1% increase in the previous period.