TORONTO – North American stock markets headed higher Tuesday morning as investors bought up shares that have been beaten and bruised in recent weeks.
The S&P/TSX composite index of Canadian shares rose 155 points, or 1.15 per cent, through mid-morning trading, to 13,633.42. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 263 points (1.64 per cent) while the S&P 500 advanced 29.74 points (1.55 per cent) and the Nasdaq gained 84 points (1.79 per cent).
The rally was sparked by more weak data out of China showing the world’s second-largest economy is slowing down. The decline has investors betting China’s central government will take additional steps to stabilize the economy, and could help convince U.S. policymakers to hold off a widely anticipated interest rate hike.
“It could be a case of bad news is good news,” Piotr Matys, a market strategist at Rabobank, told WSJ.com.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will meet next week to decide if it should begin raising rates in the United States — something investors have fretted over for months, fearful of the impact the move will have on growth and corporate profits.
MORE: Most Canadian investors stay the course amid wild market swings, poll says
The Canadian dollar was at 75.66 cents US, of a cent, up 0.27 from Friday’s close.
On the commodity markets, the December gold contract was at $1.121.90 an ounce, up 50 cents from Friday’s close. The October crude contract was down 57 ents at US$$45.48 a barrel and the October contract for natural gas was up three cents at US$2.68.
On Friday, the S&P/TSX index in Toronto closed at 13,478.31 after falling 118.10 points before the Labour Day holiday weekend.
— With files from Global News
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