Canadian Stocks Move Higher As Focus Shifts To Jackson Hole

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks climbed to a new record higher on Thursday, with attention shifting to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday.

After opening a little lower than yesterday's close, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index fell to day's low , within minutes but quickly bounced back. The carried the upward momentum throughout the session to settle at 28,055.43, up by 176.67 points (or 0.63%). Notably, this is a fresh record for the index.

According to the data released by Statistics Canada today, Canada's industrial producer prices rose 0.7% month-over-month in July, while prices jumped 2.6 percent year-over-year.

The Raw Materials Price Index increased 0.3% month-over-month in July and grew 0.8% year-over-year.

The three-day Jackson Hole Symposium, where world's central bankers and economists meet and share their insights on the global economy, began today in Wyoming, where the spotlight is on Powell's speech on Friday.

Powell's discourse is keenly anticipated as it could shed light on the Fed's monetary policy and help assess the likelihood of a rate cut at the central bank's upcoming meeting in September.

CME group's FedWatch Tool data currently reveals that traders now see a 71.5% chance for a 25 basis point rate cut, with the possibility of rates remaining unchanged holding at 28.5%.

With the country slapped with 35% tariffs on all its imports to the US that are not covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, Prime Minister Mark Carney is working hard to bring back stability in the economy.

Carney is adopting a two-pronged approach - on the one hand, high-level Canadian officials are engaged in negotiations with their US counterparts to arrive at a neutral path, and on the other, Canada is gearing up efforts to find marketplaces elsewhere outside the US to put an end to Canada's reliance on the US.

Data from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business revealed that small firms are taking the brunt of ongoing trade tensions, with 59% of SMEs hit by the US and Canadian tariffs on steel and aluminum, while 58% are feeling the squeeze from Canada's own retaliatory tariffs on US goods.

The leader of Canada's official opposition Conservatives, Pierre Poilievre has made a return to Canadian Parliament following a historic by-election win in Alberta. Pierre is expected to target Carney's handling of the US tariffs.

Analysts feel that retail sales and manufacturing sales data to be released tomorrow may reveal more about the state of current economy.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Materials (2.13%), Energy (1.68%), Communication Services (0.56%), and Consumer Discretionary (0.51%).

Among the individual stocks, Energy Fuels Inc (10.40%), Orla Mining Ltd (7.22%), Ngex Minerals Ltd (5.68%), Alamos Gold Inc (5.09%), Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (3.91%), and Rogers Communications Inc (0.98%) were the prominent gainers.

Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Industrials (0.23%), Consumer Staples (0.10%), Real Estate (0.15%), and Healthcare (0.37%).

Among the individual stocks, Empire Company Ltd (3.04%), First Capital REIT Units (0.99%), , Sienna Senior Living Inc (0.22%), and Bausch Health Companies Inc (0.86%) were the notable losers.