These are high times for Canadian cannabis producers, who led the charge on Bay Street today.
Spearheaded by Aprhia Inc., the pot stocks-driven health care sector led the gains by climbing 4.9 percent.
Aphria’s stock gained another 12.8 percent to $14.21 a share after short seller Andrew Left announced that he was taking profits on the company.
Left noted that Aphria’s shares have grown 60 percent since he predicted in December that the company’s stock would hit $8.00 by the end of 2018.
Joining Aphria in the green were Cronos Group, which rose 11.9 percent, and Aurora Cannabis, up 8.7 percent.
Overall, the TSX moved up 96 points with nine of 11 sectors trading higher.
Oil prices fell 51 cents to $54.75 US a barrel, pressured by worries over a slowing global economy as well as a weakening greenback. However, crude hit a two-month high due to OPEC’s efforts to rein in supply and U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.
In New York, the Dow surged 175 points and the Nasdaq added 83 points ahead of news of a batch of corporate earnings and strong performances in the tech sector.
FAANG stocks which include Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google parent Alphabet had some bite today.
Netflix and Apple moved up 3.3 and 2.8 percent, respectively.
Alphabet is expected to announce earnings after the close today. Other U.S. corporate giants including General Motors and Disney will be releasing their results later this week.
U.S. markets are still riding the wave of Friday’s jobs report, showing that the American economy added 304,000 jobs in January.
Gold and the Canadian dollar slipped today. The loonie weakened by 5/100ths of a cent to $0.7622 US while gold fell $5.60 to $1,313 an ounce.
