Stimulus hopes continue to raise markets
Though gains were less dramatic than the day before, Thursday’s markets ground higher as markets continued to hope for fresh U.S. stimulus measures. The catalyst came from Trump in a sudden, puzzling about-face. Two days after halting talks, Trump on Thursday urged negotiations between Republicans and Democrats to restart. The blowback and damage to Trump’s polling numbers may have triggered his reversal.
The Nasdaq and Dow rose around 0.5% while the S&P closed on strength at 0.8%. IBM surged 6% after announcing it will spin-off its managed infrastructure business into a new public company, so it can focus on its cloud business, including Red Hat. Oil names also enjoyed a sharp bounce with Halliburton jumping 7.38% and Marathon Petroleum surging 6.54%.
Energy also boosted the TSX, which climbed 0.65%. The price of WTI rose 3.3% while WCS gained almost 5%. Vermilion soared 9.33%. Cannabis stocks were also getting high, thanks to the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Kamala Harris who, on Wednesday night’s debate, said that Joe Biden would decriminalize cannabis if Biden were elected on Nov. 3. Canopy led the weed stocks, jumping nearly 13%, and Organigram by 12.75%. Energy and real estate led the Toronto rally.
💾 IBM +6%
🛢 Halliburton Co +7.38%
🛢 Marathon Petroleum +6.54%
🛢 Vermilion Energy Inc +9.33%
🌿 Canopy Growth Corp. +13%
🌿 Organigram Holdings +12.75%
