TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index rose 1.4 per cent on Wednesday in a broad-based gain led by energy, industrial and utility shares, while the U.S. stock market again hit a new record.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 307.73 points to close at 22,350.23.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 429.39 points to 39,721.36, the S&P 500 rose 56.93 points to 5,633.91 and the Nasdaq Composite added 218.16 points to 18,647.45.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit new records on Wednesday. Tech stocks led gains in the U.S. market, with Nvidia up 2.7%, Apple up 1.9% and Microsoft up 1.5%.
“One area of particular strength is semiconductor companies, and of course with all the data center construction going on around artificial intelligence, companies in this space continue to attract attention,” said Kathryn Forrest, equity investment specialist at Capital Group.
That interest was reaffirmed by Taiwan Semiconductor on Wednesday, she said.
The company, which makes chips for Nvidia and other big names in the AI field, said its June revenue rose about 33% from a year ago. TSMC shares rose 3.5% on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.
Forrest said Apple also saw its own performance improve, buoyed by reports of strong year-over-year growth in PC shipments.
The big event on Wednesday was the second day of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress.
Powell largely repeated his comments from the previous day, saying the Fed was cautious about the risks of cutting rates too soon or too late.
But he said “no signal has been sent” about when the cuts would come.
Forrest said Powell’s testimony this week largely changed his expectation that the first rate cut will come in September.
According to data from CME Group, the market continues to price in a 70% chance of a rate cut in September.
New reports on the U.S. Consumer Price Index and Wholesale Price Index are also due to be released this week.
“Each data point will be monitored very closely,” Forrest said.
But she said one report alone won’t be enough to significantly change the Fed’s trajectory.
“They’re focused on the data as a whole, not on specific data points.”
The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.42 cents per Canadian dollar, compared with 73.32 cents on Tuesday.
August crude oil futures rose 69 cents to $82.10 per barrel, while August natural gas futures fell 2 cents to $2.33 per mmBTU.
August gold futures rose $11.80 to $2,379.70 an ounce, while September copper futures rose 3 cents to $4.61 a pound.
—With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2024.
Companies featured in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press
