TSX Slowly Achieves Gains

Stocks in Canada’s largest market gradually made their way higher, on strength in resource stocks, as the time ticked down to hearing the latest minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The TSX Composite Index accumulated 62.8 points to observe noon Wednesday at 27,886.68. The Canadian dollar backpedaled 0.03 cents to 72.09 cents U.S. Investors avoided outsized bets as they looked ahead to remarks from Fed chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday that could potentially sway market expectations for future interest rate cuts. In macroeconomic news, Statistics Canada’s July housing price index decreased 0.1%, compared to a loss of 0.2% the month before. ON BAYSTREET The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 4.72 points to 769.08. Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher midday, with gold brighter 1.8%, materials better 1.5%, and energy taking on 0.7%. The four laggards were weighed most by information technology, sliding 1.3%, while consumer discretionary stocks waned 1%, and health-care faded 0.8%. ON WALLSTREET Stocks dipped on Wednesday, pressured by a broad decline in tech for the second day in a row. Investors also monitored a mixed batch of retail earnings and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes release. The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 4.09 points to 44,926.36. The S&P 500 index drifted lower 24.84 points to 6,386.53. The NASDAQ dwindled 187.71 points to 21,127.24. Investors continued to take profits from several heavyweight technology and semiconductor names, fanning concerns about their high valuations and the strength of the AI trade longer term. Nvidia declined about 3%, while Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom each lost more than 3.5%. Shares of Palantir declined about 5.5%, and Intel dropped more than 6%. Mega-cap tech companies Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta also declined. On the earnings front, Target shares dropped more than 8% — making the stock the S&P 500's worst performer — after the retailer reported another decline in sales and announced a new CEO who will step into the role on Feb. 1. Lowe’s, meanwhile, edged higher after the home improvement retailer’s earnings beat expectations. Investors are awaiting July meeting minutes from the Fed due at 2 p.m. ET. At the time, policymakers once more held steady on interest rates, but Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman dissented, marking the first time two voting Fed officials have done so since 1993. That comes ahead of remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday, which investors will monitor for insights into the path of interest rates. Fed funds futures are pricing in a nearly 85% likelihood of the central bank cutting interest rates at its next meeting in September. Prices for 10-year Treasury gained ground Wednesday, lowering yields to 4.28% from Tuesday’s 4.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Oil prices poked up a dollar to $63.35 U.S. a barrel. Gold prices recovered $29.80 cents at $3,388.50 U.S. an ounce.