TSX Ends Slightly Higher After Fed Minutes -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks ended a shade higher for a fourth straight session Wednesday, after release of the FOMC minutes and data from the U.S. that showed a decline in housing starts even as building permits rose. The Federal Reserve minutes showed some concerns about deflation in the world's largest economy with the slow uptick in prices.

The Fed minutes revealed the central bank was not overly concerned about the sharp pullback on Wall Street amid signs of global economic weakness.

With unemployment rate having improved to 5.8 percent, better than the 6 percent target, the Federal Open Market Committee's minutes from the October meeting indicate the central bank to be on track to hike rates next year, despite some low inflation numbers and a weak global economic outlook.

Minutes of the October meeting also showed the Federal Reserve to have debated how best to communicate their outlook for interest rate hikes.

Gold and energy stocks lead the declines, tracking weak commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed Wednesday at 14,980.15 , up 7.18 points or 0.05 percent. The index scaled a intraday high of 15,012.61 and a low of 14,914.38.

On Tuesday, the index ended up 90.47 points or 0.61 percent at 14,972.97, led by a surge in gold stocks after some positive economic data from the U.S.

Crude oil ended lower after the official weekly crude inventory data from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude oil stockpiles to have risen more than expected last week. The OPEC is reported to have pumped 30.97 million barrels a day in October, well above the output target of 30 million barrels a day.

The Energy Index shed 0.64 percent, with U.S. crude oil futures for January delivery shedding $0.14 or 0.2 percent to close at $74.50 a barrel on the Nymex Wednesday.

Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO) slipped 1.17 percent, while indicating a spend between C$7.2 billion and C$7.8 billion in 2015 to achieve average production of 540,000 to 585,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Meanwhile, TransCanada Corp. (TRP.TO) gained 2.68 percent after indicating it would double dividends growth rate through 2017, having failed to get its Keystone XL pipeline proposals through with U.S. lawmakers.

Among energy stocks, Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM.TO) gained 0.62 percent, Canadian Oil Sands Limited (COS.TO) dropped 2.36 percent, Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO) fell 0.29 percent, and Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (PRE.TO) dropped 1.13 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ.TO) added 0.44 percent, while Enbridge, Inc. (ENB.TO) gained 1.64 percent.

Gold futures ended lower ahead of the Federal Reserve's October policy meeting minutes and on reports of waning interest in the upcoming Swiss referendum to hike the country's gold reserves to 20 percent.

The Global Gold Index plummeted 5.57 percent, with gold for December delivery shedding $3.20 or 0.3 percent to settle at $1,193.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.

In the gold space, Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO) plunged 8.01 percent, Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) dived 5.61 percent, Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO) surrendered 6.32 percent, Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI.TO) plunged 6.67 percent, Detour Gold Corp. (DGC.TO) fell 6.28 percent, IAMGOLD Corp. (IMG.TO) plummeted 9.45 percent, and Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD.TO) dropped 6.29 percent.

The Capped Materials Index dived 2.54 percent, mostly on a decline gold stocks, with Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT.TO) gaining 1.50 percent.

The Healthcare Index gained 0.43 percent, as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (VRX.TO) advanced 0.80 percent, Catamaran Corp. (CCT.TO) added 0.86 percent and Extendicare Inc. (EXE.TO) dropped 0.58 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index gained 0.40 percent, as Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) gained 0.71 percent, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) slipped 0.02 percent, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) added 0.11 percent, and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) gained 0.78 percent. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) inched up 0.02 percent, while Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) gained 0.93 percent.

The Diversified Metals & Mining Index dipped 0.65 percent, with First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM.TO) gaining 3.43 percent, Teck Resources Limited (TCK.B.TO) down 2.76 percent, Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN.TO) down 0.91 percent, and Sherritt International Corp. (S.TO) down 4.38 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index gathered 0.52 percent, with Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) up 1.95 percent, Air Canada (AC) up 2.74 percent, and WestJet Airlines Ltd. (WJA.TO) up 1.17 percent.

The Information Technology Index dropped 1.29 percent with smartphone maker BlackBerry Limited (BB.TO) plunging 5.01 percent. CGI Group Inc. (GIB.A.TO) added 0.34 percent, Open Text Corporation (OTC.TO) dropped 2.21 percent, and Constellation Software Inc. (CSU.TO) fell 0.58 percent.

The Telecom Index added 0.23 percent with Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.B.TO) up 1.81 percent, TELUS Corp. (T.TO) down 0.34 percent, and BCE Inc. (BCE.TO) down 0.28 percent.

The Consumer Discretionary Index moved up 0.16 percent, with Tim Hortons Inc. (THI.TO) down 0.28 percent.

The Consumer Staples Index jumped 2.61 percent, with Metro Inc. (MRU.TO) surging 9.70 percent after reporting a fourth quarter net profit of $115.6 million or $1.32 per share, up 6.2 percent from an adjusted profit of $108.9 million or $1.15 per share a year earlier.

Saputo Inc. (SAP.TO) dropped 0.72 percent, while George Weston (WN.TO) gained 5.25 percent.

In economic news, a report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed U.S. housing starts to have declined in October, with new construction of multi-family homes pulling back rather sharply. Housing starts fell 2.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.009 million in October from the revised September estimate of 1.038 million. Economists expected housing starts to climb to an annual rate of 1.025 million from the 1.017 million originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, jumped 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.080 million in October from the revised September rate of 1.031 million. Building permits had been expected to climb to 1.040 million from the 1.018 million originally reported for the previous month.

Bank of England policymakers decided to leave its key rate at a historic low of 0.50 percent in a split vote for the fourth straight time at the meeting held on November 5 and 6, the minutes showed Wednesday.

In economic news from eurozone, data from the European Central Bank showed eurozone current account surplus to have increased to a seasonally adjusted Euro 30 billion in September, from Euro 22.8 billion in the preceding month.

From Asia, the Bank of Japan maintained its massive monetary stimulus a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for an early election and put off a proposed sales tax hike. The Policy Board of the central bank on Wednesday voted 8-1 to maintain the annual pace of increase in the monetary base at about JPY 80 trillion as they wait to see the effect of surprise expansion decision taken late last month.

Meanwhile, the leading index for Japan was unrevised in September, rising to 105.6 in September from 104.4 in August, final figures from the Cabinet Office showed Wednesday. This was unchanged from the preliminary estimate, and was the highest reading since April.