TSX Ends On Strong Note For 2nd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - Despite a mild setback earlier in the day, Canadian stocks moved higher on Thursday and closed on a bright note amid hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve will slowdown its pace of interest rate hikes at its upcoming meetings.

Data showing a contraction in U.S. GDP growth in the latest quarter weighed a bit, but the report raised expectations the Fed might raise rates by not more than 50 basis points at its next meeting.

Investors reacted to a slew of earnings updates from Canadian companies.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 202.15 points or 1.05% at 19,456.71, slightly off the day's high of 19,472.70.

Energy, consumer staples, consumer discretionary and healthcare stocks moved higher. Several stocks from real estate, industrials and technology sectors too posted impressive gains.

Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) surged nearly 8% on strong volumes. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Kinross Gold Corporation (K.TO) and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) gained 3.2 to 5%.

Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) gained more than 3% after the company reported second-quarter net earnings of $2.43 billion, compared to $1.63 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO) and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) ended higher by 1.9%, 1.3% and 1%, respectively.

Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO) surged 7.2%. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) ended 6.4% up and Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO) advanced 6.1%.

Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO), Brp Inc (DOO.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), Boyd Group (BYD.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO) and Waste Connections (WCN.TO) gained 2 to 5%.

Kinxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) both moved up by about 1.5%.

Shares of Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) plunged more than 50% today after Bloomberg reported that the company had been dealt an unfavorable ruling in a patent dispute.

Trading in Bausch Health Companies was briefly halted today morning following a Delaware federal judge issuing an oral order on patent litigation over Xifaxan. Judge Richard Andrews has directed Bausch subsidiary Salix Pharmaceuticals to meet with generics manufacturer Norwich Pharmaceuticals to meet and file a joint final judgment by Aug. 3.

Data from Statistics Canada showed average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose 2.5% year-on-year to C$ 1,159.9 in May of 2022, slowing from a 3.2% increase in April.