Toronto –
Canada’s main stock index posted a modest gain on Tuesday, while U.S. markets rose after the latest data on inflation.
The Nasdaq notched a 1.5-per-cent increase, with some large tech companies regaining momentum, while the S&P 500 rose 1.1 per cent, helping walk back losses from the past two days.
U.S. inflation was 3.2 per cent in February, up slightly from 3.1 per cent in January.
“This is the second month in a row that we got a bit of an upside surprise in inflationary pressures,” said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones.
Despite the higher headline number, she noted that the year-over-year core inflation metric ticked lower to 3.8 per cent, “which I think is what investors wanted to see.”
“We’re certainly getting two different reactions from the stock market and the bond market,” Mahajan added.
Stocks rose, resuming their recent trend after a couple of days of weakness. Meanwhile, bond yields also moved higher, which normally would weigh on equities.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 235.83 points at 39,005.49. The S&P 500 index was up 57.33 points at 5,175.27, while the Nasdaq composite was up 246.36 points at 16,265.64.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 61.80 points at 21,831.02.
Later this week, investors will also get more reports on inflation in the U.S., plus retail sales, said Mahajan.
Those inflation reports — producer prices and…
