Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
North American markets surged to record highs after a speech from the U.S. Federal Reserve chair that suggested it was in no rush to begin reducing economic stimulus measures.
Allan Small, senior investment adviser at IA Private Wealth, said the result was a broad based surge in confidence that led to all-time highs for Canada's main stock index and the Nasdaq.
"I think people were envisioning the Fed being more open to tapering (its bond-buying program), but he gave no indication of tapering anytime soon," said Small.
"So it was risk-on. Technology stocks went to the moon, energy went to the moon, really it's an up day across most sectors."
The S&P/TSX composite index shot up by 147.96 points at 20,652.11.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 242.68 points at 35,455.80. The S&P 500 index was up 39.37 points to a new all-time high of 4,509.37, while the Nasdaq composite was up 183.69 points to an all-time high of 15,129.50.
Small said the lack of urgency around tapering or interest rate hikes ultimately led to a weaker U.S. dollar, which in turn pushed commodities higher.
The loonie gained on that weakness, trading for 79.15 cents US compared with 79.05 cents US on Thursday.
The TSX materials index was up 2.98 per cent to 317.74 points, while the gold index rose by 3.09 per cent to 291.30 points
The December gold contract was up US$24.30 at US$1,819.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was up seven cents at US$4.33 a pound.
Oil prices were also on the rise, with the October crude contract up US$1.32 at US$68.74 per barrel and the October natural gas contract up 18 cents at US$4.39 per mmBTU.
Small said that increase could also be attributed to a new storm that's heading to the Gulf of Mexico, which has already affected operations for offshore oil rigs.
"This whole idea of a storm heading towards oil country, that's what drove the price of oil higher at least initially," said Small.
The TSX's financial index was one of very few on the exchange that were in the negative Friday, losing 0.34 per cent to 381.49 points.
Small said the major banks were hit earlier this week when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a campaign pledge to raise the corporate income tax rate by three percentage points for banks and insurance companies with earnings over $1 billion.
"If Justin Trudeau is the next prime minister and he gets a majority, I think you could see bank stocks perhaps sell off a little," said Small. "Banking and financials make up the largest component of our market.
"They're the bloodline of our economy, If they're negatively impacted by him raising taxes, obviously that's a bad thing."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2021.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.