Canadian Market Up Marginally At Noon; Bank Stocks Post Strong Gains

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market has come off early highs and is up marginally around noon on Thursday, led by gains in financials, materials, industrials and technology stocks.

The mood in the market is fairly positive despite Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaling that the central bank will remain aggressive with regard to its monetary policy.

Speaking at the Cato Institute's monetary policy conference, Powell reiterated the Fed's commitment to fighting inflation, once again warning about the dangers of allowing elevated prices to become entrenched.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 19.60 points or 0.1% at 19,261.04 a few minutes past noon. Earlier, the index had climbed to 19,398.81, gaining more than 150 points.

Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) is gaining more than 7%. Bombardier Inc (BBD.A.TO) is gaining 3.5%. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Teck Resources (TECK.A.TO) are up 2.3%, 2.1% and 2.7%, respectively.

WSP Global (WSP.TO), FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) and TFI International (TFII.TO) are up 1 to 2%.

Shares of The North West Company Inc. (NWC.TO) are plunging more than 9% on weak results. The company announced on Wednesday that its second-quarter net earnings decreased to $32.4 million compared to $42.4 million last year.

Interfor Corporation (IFP.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Precision Drilling (PD.TO), Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO), Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) and Telus International (TIXT.TO) are down 2 to 3.1%.