Daily Wrap-up: TSX advances for third consecutive session, energy gains

TSX advances for third consecutive session, energy gains... Rogers in $565 million wireless spending spree... This is true in 69 per cent of Canadian families... Canadian automakers set for profit surge...

Steve Randall
TSX advances for third consecutive session, energy gains
For the third day in a row the Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index gained and Wednesday’s rise was led by the energy sector as oil and natural gas prices head upwards. Greece’s precarious debt situation may take a new turn overnight as European finance ministers meet. Toronto has managed to shrug off some of the negative sentiment felt in Europe and Wall Street following a Greek official’s comment to reporters that his country’s reform plan has been rejected. Better-than-previously-predicted GDP figures and stronger consumer spending levels were unable to lift Wall Street’s main indexes from the red. Europe’s indexes also closed lower with London’s FTSE bucking the trend; the UK is not in the Eurozone. Asian markets closed before the Greek official’s comments and most indexes closed higher with Tokyo managing an 18-year high.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 42.60 (0.29 per cent)
The NYSE closed lower (Dow down 178 points)
Oil is trending lower (Brent $63.57, WTI $60.24 at 4.20pm)
Gold is trending lower
The loonie is valued at U$0.8066 (at 4.20pm)
 
Rogers in $565 million wireless spending spree
Rogers Communications has agreed to pay $465 million to buy the wireless operator Mobilicity and $100 million to complete a deal to acquire some of Shaw’s airwaves; $250 million had already been paid for that option. The deals, announced Wednesday, will bolster Rogers’ number one position in the wireless sector. In order to satisfy competition regulations Rogers will sell some of its spectrum to Wind Mobile. Some analysts believe that Telus may contest the Mobilicity deal.
 
This is true in 69 per cent of Canadian families
The percentage of Canadian families with a child under 16 where both parents are working has reached 69 per cent. The figure was revealed by Statistics Canada and shows that it is almost double the level in 1976. The province with the fastest decline of a stay-at-home parent is Quebec and the data also shows that in 2014 11 per cent of dads were staying at home to look after kids compared to just 2 per cent in 1976.
 
Canadian automakers set for profit surge
A report from the Conference Board of Canada predicts that profits at Canada’s automakers is set to surge by 73 per cent this year to $2.36 billion. Record sales and the lower dollar will boost net income this year and next but the threat of further job losses at Ford’s Oshawa factory are noted in the report as a “dark cloud” for the sector.
 

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