16-year-old boy fatally shot outside Scarborough plaza identified
Police have identified a teenage boy who was fatally shot in Scarborough’s L’Amoreaux neighbourhood on Saturday afternoon.
North American stock markets broke multi-day losing streaks after the U.S. Federal Reserve adopted the largest interest rate increase since 1994 and vowed to remain aggressive in tackling soaring inflation.
Markets softened until about 2:30 p.m. when Fed chairman Jerome Powell explained the decision to hike its rate by three quarters of a percentage point and hinted at additional sizable increases to come.
“From the perspective of today, either a 50 basis point or a 75 basis point increase seems most likely at our next meeting,” he told reporters.
The Fed projected Wednesday that interest rates will likely end the year at between 3.25 and 3.5 per cent, up from its March estimate of 1.75 to 2.0 per cent.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 63.05 points to 19,611.56 after see-sawing through a range of 360 points between the day's high and low.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 300.70 points at 30,668.53. The S&P 500 index was up 54.51 points at 3,789.99, while the Nasdaq composite was up 270.80 points or 2.5 per cent at 11,099.15.
Investors had been expecting a 50 basis point increase until Friday, when increasing inflation numbers for May prompted a rethink. About 99 per cent of analysts had raised their forecast to 75 basis points.
Investors reacted positively to the decisive action of the Fed, said Anish Chopra, managing director with Portfolio Management Corp. Critics had previously accused it of not reacting fast enough to tame inflation.
“That's the message to investors - the Fed is willing to act to control inflation,” he said in an interview.
Chopra said the central bank showed its flexibility by changing course after initially telegraphing a smaller rate increase.
“And if inflation still continues to rise and they're not comfortable with it, based on their action today, they could have more rate increases and they could still increase the size of those rate increases.”
However, Shaun Osborne of Scotiabank said the challenge for central banks is that inflation is mainly driven by higher energy prices (stemming from the Ukrainian war), which are insensitive to monetary policy.
“What policymakers are attempting to do, however, is re-anchor inflation expectations,” he wrote in a report.
Chopra said the Fed's decision will put pressure on the Bank of Canada to follow suit at its meeting next month given a similar inflation environment, after increasing rates by half a percentage point in two consecutive meetings.
“If (Bank of Canada governor) Tiff Macklem doesn't raise rates, what will happen is if the U.S. continues to raise rates, the Canadian dollar will fall.”
The relative composition of the U.S. and Canadian stock markets largely explained the differing performance midweek. Technology's strength was more supportive of gains south of the border while a weaker energy sector hurt the Toronto market.
Technology rose 2.2 per cent as bond yields fell from their multi-year highs.
As a result, shares of Shopify Inc. increased 6.9 per cent and Lightspeed Commerce Inc. were up 5.7 per cent.
Materials recovered late amid higher metals prices.
The August gold contract was up US$6.10 at US$1,819.60 an ounce and the July copper contract was up less than a penny at US$4.16 a pound.
Health care, consumer discretionary and real estate were among the day's leaders.
Energy and utilities were the lone laggards, with energy falling 1.3 per cent as the largest decrease of crude oil prices in nearly a month hurt producers such as Cenovus Energy Inc., whose shares dripped 3.6 per cent.
The July crude contract was down US$3.62 at US$115.31 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was up 23.1 cents at US$7.42 per mmBTU.
“Energy's had a strong run over the last number of months, and today the decline in the price of oil certainly had an impact on the TSX,” said Chopra.
Despite Wednesday's pullback, crude prices are up nearly 53 per cent so far in 2022.
The Canadian dollar traded for 77.23 cents US compared with 77.28 cents US on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2022.
Police have identified a teenage boy who was fatally shot in Scarborough’s L’Amoreaux neighbourhood on Saturday afternoon.
Joe Alwyn is speaking publicly for the first time about the end of his years-long relationship with Taylor Swift.
210,000 pounds of food was delivered to the Ottawa Food Bank on Saturday, the largest donation in its 40-year history.
Part of Highway 400 was closed on Sunday after an Ontario Northland bus caught on fire.
Your father's diet before you were born could have played a role in your health, a new study has found.
Prince William on Sunday shared a photograph showing him as a child with his father, King Charles III, to mark Father’s Day in the United Kingdom this year.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he is 'even more alarmed than before' after reading the un-redacted report alleging there are MPs and senators who are participating to some degree in foreign interference efforts.
As Canadians continue to struggle with the extremely high cost of buying a home in some of the country’s major urban centres, a new global report is underscoring just how expensive some of those markets are.
On a day that a local state of emergency was declared in Calgary, city residents answered a request from the mayor and emergency officials to use less water.
The thunderstorm that hit Ottawa Thursday evening was accompanied by heavy rain and lightning that struck a house in Orléans.
Canadian and U.S. ironworkers shook hands across the border as the Gordie Howe bridge deck officially becomes an international crossing.
Age may be just a number to George Steciuk, but it’s just one of many that add up to one inspirational athlete.
It has taken more than 100 years, but Almonte’s forgotten soldier, George B. Monterville has had his name etched back into history.
For Father's Day, CP24.com and CTVNewsToronto.ca reached out to local politicians, community advocates, and other prominent figures in the city to ask them to share what important lesson they have learned from their dads.
Fancy Pokket owner Mike Timani has decided to create a 220-foot long flat bread to celebrate its 35th anniversary.
If certain goals that are in the Paris Climate Accord aren't met, the existence of polar bears in the Hudson Bay may come to an end.
In an attempt to invite one of the most popular recording artists in the world to the land of living skies – the City of Swift Current has offered to rename itself in honour of Taylor Swift.
More than a dozen dogs arrived by Cargojet early Thursday morning to the People for Animal Wellbeing Shelter to find a permanent place to call home in New Brunswick.