TORONTO — U.S. stock markets rebounded and Canada's main index moved further into record territory as investors digested hawkish comments from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday.
The turnaround in U.S. markets came a day after Fed chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank was prepared to aggressively address inflation that is running too high.
"It seems that giving a more certain direction has reassured the markets," said Pierre Cléroux, chief economist for the Business Development Bank of Canada.
Powell's most hawkish comments to date prompted U.S. markets to fall Monday after he initially insisted the increase in prices was just "transitory" or temporary.
Cléroux said it raises the likelihood that the next interest rate hike will be 50 basis points instead of the 0.25 per cent increases announced earlier this month.
"I think it's a more clear direction of where the Fed is going," he said in an interview.
Despite high inflation, made worse by the war in Ukraine, the American economy is "red hot," creating more than 400,000 jobs last month, Cléroux said.
The Toronto stock market rose for a sixth straight day as crude oil prices remained strong and the heavyweight financials sector got a boost from talk of rising interest rates and higher bond yields.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 65.22 points to 22,074.35, another record close after reaching an intraday peak of 22,152.94.
The TSX is up four per cent so far in 2022, while U.S. stock markets are down. The Dow Jones industrial average is off 4.2 per cent, the S&P 500 is down 5.3 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite is 9.9 per cent lower.
On Tuesday, the Dow climbed 254.47 points at 34,807.46. The S&P 500 index was up 50.43 points at 4,511.61, while the Nasdaq composite gained 270.36 points or nearly two per cent to 14,108.82.
Also contributing to North American stock market gains, especially in the technology sector, was an announcement by the Chinese government that it will dramatically reduce taxes on small business and have a stronger monetary policy to support the economy, said Cléroux.
He said the announcement in China had a big impact on tech stocks in the country with Alibaba shares experiencing a large gain.
It also helped North American tech companies, including the Canadian sector which was one of the top performers on the day.
Tech increased 2.8 per cent with shares of Quarterhill Inc. surging 10 per cent after its Wi–LAN Inc. subsidiary and WiLAN's subsidiary Polaris Innovations Ltd. signed a patent licence agreement with Apple Inc.
Lightspeed Commerce Inc. and Shopify Inc., which have lagged this year, increased 7.9 and 6.0 per cent, respectively.
Financials rose with gains across insurance companies and Canadian banks after the U.S. 10-year bond yield increased to 2.38 per cent.
Industrials was higher as Air Canada shares increased 3.5 per cent after it announced a deal to acquire 26 new extra-long range Airbus A321neo aircraft. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. shares were up 1.6 per cent after it agreed to binding arbitration with unionized employees to end a two-day work stoppage.
Materials and energy were among five sectors that were lower on the day.
Energy fell as crude oil prices slipped, but remain 45 per cent higher year-to-date.
The May crude contract was down 70 cents at US$109.27 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was up 28.7 cents at US$5.19 per mmBTU.
Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. was down 2.8 per cent while MEG Energy Corp. was 2.1 per cent lower.
The Canadian dollar traded for 79.44 cents US compared with 79.41 cents US on Monday.
Materials dropped on lower metals prices.
The April gold contract was down US$8 at US$1,921.50 an ounce and the May copper contract was down 1.1 cents at US$4.70 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2022.
Companies in this story: (TSX:TVE, TSX:MEG, TSX:QTRH, TSX:LSPD, TSX:SHOP, TSX:AC, TSX:CP, TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)
Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press