The TSX’s perennial front-runner in terms of shares traded got a huge boost today, after the hiring of a high-profile adviser.
Shares in Aurora Cannabis spiked 12.9 percent, sparked by the Edmonton-based company appointing U.S. billionaire Nelson Peltz as a senior adviser.
Peltz has ties to high-profile companies including Wendy’s, Procter & Gamble, Sysco, and The Madison Square Garden Company.
Aurora Cannabis was once again the most heavily traded company on Canada’s stock exchange, and factored into the TSX clawing to a modest 13-point gain.
Also helping the exchange post a third consecutive winning day was a 1.4 percent push from the energy sector, as oil continued its ascent. Crude prices jumped $1.48 to $58.35 US, bolstered by U.S. inventories falling by 3.9 million barrels last week.
But it wasn’t all rosy on Bay Street. Just five of 11 sectors were in the green, and there was a broad-based sell-off of gold mining stocks, even with the yellow metal jumping in value.
In New York, Boeing’s losses deepened after the U.S. and Canada joined the list of countries grounding the company’s 737 MAX 8 jets, following Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash that took the lives of all 157 passengers and crew on board.
Boeing lost another 0.4 percent today but the industrial bellwether’s decline didn’t stop the Dow from climbing 148 points. Gains in the tech, financials, health care, and energy sectors lifted the index higher.
It was also a positive day for the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which added 52 points on the back of strong performances by Apple, Intel, Nvidia, and Netflix, among others.
Gold and the Canadian dollar made huge gains today. Gold was up $12.30 to $1,310 an ounce while the loonie inched near a one-week high, rising by 32/100ths of a cent to $0.7519 US.
