Stocks Celebrate by Noon, Hopeful of Future Rate Cuts

Canada's main stock index hit a record high on Wednesday, led by technology shares, with Shopify rising after its quarterly results as investors bought the market dip. The TSX Composite Index held onto gains of 326.02 points, or 1.2%, to reach noon EDT at 27,896.10. The Canadian dollar captured 0.16 cents at 72.77 cents U.S. Tech firms led the parade midday as Shopify popped $33.18, or 18.9%, to $208.34. Health-care issues did not fare so well, at least in the first hour, as Bausch Health Companies slipped 31 cents, or 3.8%, to $7.89. ON BAYSTREET The TSX Venture Exchange eked higher 1.2 points to 784.88. Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground Wednesday afternoon, led by information technology, spiking 4.8%, gold, brightening 0.7%, and materials, better by 0.5%. The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, slumping 1.3%, industrial stocks, down 0.6%, and telecoms, off 0.3%. ON WALLSTREET Stocks rose Wednesday, thanks to a jump in Apple, as investors analyzed the latest batch of corporate earnings following a negative session on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered 119.37 points by noon Wednesday at 44,231.11. The S&P 500 strengthened 46.62 points to 6,345.81 The NASDAQ zoomed 216.87 points, or 1%, to 20,133.42 Supporting those gains, Apple jumped 5% after a White House official confirmed that the iPhone maker is going to boost its investment in domestic manufacturing by $100 billion. That brings its total U.S. investment to $600 billion over the next four years. Those moves follow a losing day for the market, marking the S&P 500's fifth down day of the last six and the Dow’s sixth negative session of the past seven. Meanwhile, earnings season continues with companies reporting strong results, with 81% of S&P 500 companies that have reported to date trouncing expectations. Among the day’s outperformers, McDonald’s moved 2% higher after the fast-food restaurant chain’s second-quarter results beat the Street’s estimates on the top and bottom lines. Same-store sales grew at the fastest pace in almost two years. Arista Networks also rallied 17% on a stronger-than-expected report. On the flip side, Snap shares tumbled 17% after revenue came in slightly below expectations, while Advanced Micro Devices fell 6% after posting adjusted earnings per share that missed estimates. Prices for 10-year Treasury fell slightly, pushing yields up to 4.23% from 4.20%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Oil prices changed direction and sank 28 cents to $64.88 U.S. a barrel. Gold prices poked higher two dollars at $3,436.70 U.S. an ounce.