It was a tale of two markets today.
Oil continued its strong streak while surging gold and positive news on NAFTA all helped push the TSX 58 points higher to a close of 15,680. In New York it was a roller coaster ride for the Dow Jones.
The market started lowered, recovered some, and then dropped again in a flurry of late trading. This came as the U.S. Federal Reserve announced an expected quarter per cent interest rate hike to 1.75 per cent, and reports that China would be taking retaliatory steps against American tariffs. The Dow closed down 44 points to 24,682.
Negotiations on NAFTA are finally coming together, especially on the contentious “50 per cent American-made parts” demand from the U.S, which reports say the Americans have dropped.
The Canadian dollar got a boost from that news as well as a weaker American dollar. It’s up nearly a full cent in afterhours trading to 77.48 cents U.S., while oil is up $1.87 to $65.41 U.S. per barrel, and gold is up $20.50 to $1332.40 an ounce.
