Stocks Restore Strength Lost Wednesday

Equities in Toronto opened higher on Thursday, recovering from its worst session in three months, helped by strength in materials and energy stocks.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 120.34 points to begin Thursday at 17,544.77.

The Canadian dollar slumped 0.04 cents to 77.97 cents U.S.

Cenovus Energy forecast higher production and spending for 2021 after its blockbuster purchase of rival Husky Energy, expecting to benefit from a rebound in fuel demand from a slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cenovus gained 28 cents, or 3.8%, to $7.64.

CIBC cut the target price on Canadian Pacific Railway to $490.00 from $500.00. CP shares galloped $9.54, or 2.3%, to $432.71.

CIBC cut the target price on Gibson Energy to $23.00 from $24.00. Gibson shares gained 18 cents to $19.37.

TD Securities initiated coverage on Wesdome Gold Mines with a buy rating, and a target price of $13.50. Wesdome shares picked up 47 cents, or 5.1%, to $9.71.

On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported Average weekly earnings were $1,110 in November, up 0.6% compared with October.

This brought the year-over-year increase in earnings to 6.6%, as job losses since February have been concentrated among hourly paid—and largely lower-paid—employees.

Moreover, the agency told us building permits decreased in value by 4.1% to $9.1 billion in December, following a month during which several high value permits were issued.

StatsCan said declines were reported in every component except single-family dwellings.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange regained 2.07 points to 919.47.

All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground in the first hour, with materials surging 3.4%, gold up 3.1%, and energy better by 1.5%.

The two laggards were information technology, sliding 2.2%, and communications, down 0.4%.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stocks climbed on Thursday following a sharp selloff on Wall Street that saw the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffer their worst drop in three months.

The Dow Jones Industrials restored 362.89 points, or 1.2%, to kick off Thursday at 30,666.06, and begin their comeback from the index’s worst day since Oct. 28.

The S&P 500 moved forward 42.71 points, or 1.1%, to 3,793.48,

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The NASDAQ jumped 107.69 points to 13,378.29.

In pre-market trading, futures rose to their highs as GameStop, a highly speculative name that had rocketed higher amid retail buying frenzy, started to roll over.

The brick-and-mortar video game retailer, a target on the WallStreetBets Reddit chat room, had risen as much as 40% in premarket trading and quickly wiped out those gains.

The stock started dropping as word of broker restrictions began to spread. Interactive Brokers and Robinhood have limited transactions for heavily shorted names including GameStop and AMC Entertainment.

GameStop fell double digits at one point, but reversed higher again in morning trading. AMC dropped 32%, while Bed Bath & Beyond slid 18%.

Apple turned in its largest revenue on record at $111.4 billion in its fiscal first-quarter earnings report for fiscal 2021. Sales for every product category rose by double-digit percentage points. Shares of the tech giant, however, dipped nearly 2%.

Tesla dropped 5.7% after the electric car maker posted worse-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter. The company also said it expects annual average delivery growth of 50% going forward.

Shares of American Airlines surged more than 30% after the carrier posted better-than-feared quarterly results. The company, the most-shorted U.S. airline, saw it shares keep ripping higher as hedge funds and other short sellers rushed to buy shares to cut their losses.

On the data front, gross domestic product increased at a 4.0% pace in the fourth quarter, slightly below the 4.3% expectation from economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

The number of first-time filers for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week. Jobless claims totaled 847,000 for the week ended Jan. 23, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected first-time claims to total 875,000.

Prices for 10-Year Treasurys dropped, raising yields to 1.05% from Wednesday’s 1.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices gained 47 cents to $53.32 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices recovered $15.00 to $1,858.90 U.S. an ounce.