TSX Begins Wednesday On Right Foot

(MENAFN- Baystreet)
Canada's main stock index opened higher on Wednesday, lifted by materials shares, as Gold prices rose due to safe-haven demand in light of the escalating U.S.-China trade war.
The TSX progressed 37.59 points to open the mid-week session at 25,279.35.
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.45 cents at 69.86 cents U.S.
In corporate news, ATS Corp reported third-quarter revenue above estimates. ATS shares popped $2.82, or 7.4%, to $41.01.
Macroeconomically speaking, international merchandise trade figures for December rolled out from Statistics Canada.
In December, Canada's merchandise exports increased 4.9% and imports were up 2.3%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade balance with the world went from a deficit of $986 million in November to a surplus of $708 million in December.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 2.01 points to 638.55.
Seven of the 12 subgroups were ahead in the first hour, gold surging 2.9%, health-care haler 2.5%, and materials brighter 1.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by energy, down 0.6%, consumer discretionary stocks, fading 0.4%, and communications, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite fell Wednesday after mixed quarterly figures from Alphabet and chipmaker AMD led the tech sector lower. A decline in Apple also put pressure on the major indexes.
Shares in the Dow Jones Industrials shed 53.58 points to 44,502.47.
The much-broader index dipped 19.77 points to 6,018.11
The tech-heavy NASDAQ fell 142.14 points to 19,511.87.
Alphabet shares tumbled 8% after the Google-parent posted a cloud revenue miss as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence, spooking investors who worried the megacap tech company will take longer to capitalize on its AI ambitions. Overall revenue for the period also came up short.
AMD shares were also lower by 10% after the company's fourth-quarter data center revenue came up short of expectations.
Experts pointed to other AI-related names like Nvidia, whose price rose 4%, and Vistra, up more than 1%.
Elsewhere, Apple dropped 1% after Bloomberg News reported that regulators in China were considering launching a formal investigation into the company's App Store fees and policies.
This comes amid heightened trade tensions between China and the U.S. Over the weekend, the U.S. unveiled a 10% levy on Chinese imports. China then retaliated with tariffs of up to 15% on U.S. goods.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury climbed sharply, lowering yields to 4.42% from Tuesday's 4.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices decreased $1.05 to $71.65 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold gained $21.20 an ounce to $2,897 U.S.

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