On a choppy trading day, North American markets managed to regain their footing somewhat after a steep fall on Monday.
The TSX moved up 54 points, propped up by gains in eight sectors including financials, industrials, and materials.
The heavyweight financials sector edged up 0.2 percent, led by a 1.7 percent lift in Manulife’s stock.
An outlier was the beleaguered energy sector, which is mired in the red as the price of oil plunged $3.86 to $46.02 a barrel.
The usual culprits – oversupply and trade worries – are pulling crude oil prices to near a 15-month low.
Meanwhile, Canada’s beleaguered energy industry received a financial shot in the arm from the federal government today, in an attempt to repair some of the damage caused by plunging oil prices.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals announced more than $1.6 billion in funding to support jobs and workers in Canada’s oil and gas sector.
A government release noted that “these measures will support workers and their families, foster competitiveness and improve the long-term environmental performance of the oil and gas sector.”
In New York, the Dow managed to pare some of the 507 points that it lost on Monday.
The exchange retreated from gains earlier in the day before rising 82 points into the green.
Boeing led the gains by jumping 4.5 percent after the board of directors with the world’s largest plane maker voted to hike the company’s quarterly dividend by 20 percent to $2.05 per share.
Also, General Electric jumped two percent, and 3M was up 1.3 percent.
A 1.7 percent increase in Apple shares and jumps in shares of Micron, Facebook, Netflix, and chip maker Nvidia helped push the Nasdaq 30 points above the flat line.
Gold moved up 80 cents to $1,249 an ounce while the loonie lost more than a quarter of a cent in value, falling 31/100ths of a cent to $0.7428 US.
