The Canadian stock market bounced back sharply on Wednesday, buoyed by largely upbeat corporate earnings that seemingly eased investors’ fears about the economic outlook. The S&P/TSX Composite Index inched up by 304 points, or 1.5%, to settle at 20,889 — posting its biggest single-day gains in two months.
While all main market sectors ended the session on a positive note, shares of technology, industrial, consumer, and financial companies advanced the most, helping the TSX benchmark recover after it plunged by over 2% in the previous session.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of goeasy (TSX: GSY) jumped 8% to $169.80 per share a day after announcing its quarterly financial results. In the December 2023 quarter, the Mississauga-headquartered lending and leasing services provider’s revenue surged by 30.7% YoY (year over year) to $357.2 million.
With the help of a 12% YoY increase in quarterly loan originations, the company reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $4.01 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $3.92 per share. After ending 2023 with solid 48.5% gains, GSY stock is now up 7.4% year to date.
Similarly, Intact Financial (TSX: IFC) stock climbed by 7.2% to $223.46 per share as its fourth-quarter earnings of $4.22 per share crushed Street analysts’ expectations of $3.38 per share. Factors such as strong underwriting, investment, and distribution results helped the company post stronger-than-expected profits in the last quarter. On a year-to-date basis, IFC stock is now up 9.6%.
Lithium Americas, Centerra Gold, and Bombardier were also among the top-performing TSX stocks yesterday as they inched up by over 6% each.
In contrast, CAE and New Gold dived by at least 4.3% each, making them the Toronto Stock Exchange’s bottom performers.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, Enbridge, Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Royal Bank of Canada, and SSR Mining were the five most active stocks.
TSX today
Most commodity prices traded on a bearish note early Thursday morning, which could pressure the main TSX index at the open today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will closely monitor the monthly retail sales, manufacturing, and weekly jobless claims data from the United States this morning.
On the corporate events side, many TSX-listed companies like Sandstorm Gold, IAMGOLD, Agnico Eagle Mines, IGM Financial, Fairfax Financial, Definity Financial, Canadian Tire, Cenovus Energy, MTY Food, and Mullen Group are likely to announce their latest quarterly results on February 15.
Market movers on the TSX today
