TSX Recap: Investors react to sky-high inflation; pot stocks climb
Canada’s benchmark stock index climbed higher on Wednesday in the wake of consumer price inflation accelerating to the highest level since January 1983.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 82.96 points to close at 19,020.67.
Statistics Canada reported the consumer price index rose 8.1 per cent from a year ago. Higher gasoline prices were a big contributor to soaring inflation, with those prices climbing 6.2 per cent on the month and 55 per cent year-over-year.
Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist of Alberta Central and former economist for the Bank of Canada, joins BNN Bloomberg and says the acceleration of inflation was not as bad as economists were expecting, but we will still see further rate hikes by the end of the year,
Former Bank of Canada Economist Charles St-Arnaud said he was expecting inflation data to come in higher at 8.5 per cent.
“Obviously being at 8.1 [per cent] rather than 8.5 [per cent] will provide some relief for the Bank of Canada, that the acceleration has not been as bad as many economists were expecting,” St-Arnaud, who is also the chief economist at Alberta Central, said in an interview Wednesday.
St-Arnaud added that despite the inflation data coming lower than many economists expected, it doesn’t mean the BoC will change its interest rate plan and he still expects “some further rate hikes on their site before the end of the year.”
Meanwhile, some Canadian cannabis stocks with operations in the United States rose on indications that U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer could release a pot reform bill to legalize marijuana at a federal level as early as this week.
Charlotte's Web Holdings Inc. and Canopy Growth Corp. were some of the biggest gainers on the TSX.
Separately, shares of Nutrien Ltd. were up 1.92 per cent after the company said it will acquire Brazilian retailer Casa do Adubo S.A. This move will expand Nutrien’s retail presence in Brazil and is projected to bring in an additional US$400 million in sales for the fertilizer giant.
Bank of Montreal closed slightly higher by 0.72 per cent. The bank announced it will acquire Radicle Group Inc., a Calgary-based sustainability-advisory firm that focuses on helping organizations reduce their carbon footprint.
“I can tell you in the past year, I don’t think we’ve had a conversation with any client, institutional client, a banking client, a trade client, or a wealth client, where sustainability and energy transition was not a part of the conversation,” said Levent Kahraman, co-head of BMO Global Markets, in an interview on Wednesday.
South of the border, U.S. markets also finished the trading day higher. The S&P 500 rose 0.59 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.15 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 1.58 per cent.
The benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil price was down 1.88 per cent to US$102.26 per barrel.
One of the most closely watched sets of oil data surprised investors with a drop in inventories, as opposed to a weekly gain.
The U.S. government’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report said oil inventories fell by 445,000 barrels last week versus an estimated 748,000 gain, raising concerns about oil stockpiles.
The Canadian dollar closed lower at 77.66 U.S. cents.
