New Record High for TSX

Equity markets climbed to a record high in Toronto boosted by technology stocks, as investors cheered an outsized interest-rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The TSX Composite Index zoomed 261.88 points, or 1.1%, to break for lunch at 23,845.48. The TSX is up 13.3% this year.

The Canadian dollar spiked 0.26 to 73.73 cents U.S.

Investors world over reacted positively to the U.S. central bank's 50-basis-point rate cut after keeping policy rates at an over two-decade high for over a year.

Pizza Pizza Royalty announced its monthly cash dividend of $0.0775 per share for September. Shares in the company gathered nine cents to $13.07.

Ivanhoe Mines took on 99 cents, or 5.5%, to $18.92, while Lundin Mining tacked on 65 cents, or 5.5%, to $13.36. Hudbay Minerals progressed 37 cents, or 3.5%, to $10.71. All three were among the top gainers on the composite index.

Among tech issues, Bitfarms jumped 14 cents, or 5.2%, to $2.82.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 5.28 points to 581.49.

All but there of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with information technology ahead 2.5%, while energy surged 1.8%, and materials surging 1.6%.

The three laggards proved to be consumer staples, off 0.4%, communications, sliding 0.3%, and utilities, in the red 0.1%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks rose Thursday as traders digested the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday decision to lower interest rates by a half percentage point.

The Dow Jones Industrials index ballooned 405.69 points, or 1%, to 41,908.79.

The S&P 500 piled on 89.45 points, or 1.6%, to 5,707.71.

The NASDAQ jumped 453.76 points, or 2.6%, to 18,027.06.

Traders got some validation that the Fed was engineering a soft landing for the economy on Thursday as weekly jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 219,000, which was far below estimates.

Tech stocks rallied as the rate cut spurred investors to return to a risk-on mood. Nvidia climbed 5% and AMD popped around 4%. Micron Technology traded more than 2% higher. Other big tech stocks such as Meta advanced 2.4%, and Alphabet grew 1.9%.

Stocks leveraged to lower rates spurring the economy also jumped Thursday morning. Financial giant JPMorgan Chase rose 1.5%. Industrial stock Caterpillar picked up 3.3%, and Home Depot gained 1.5%.

The Fed slashed its overnight lending rate to a range of 4.75% to 5% from 5.25% to 5.5% on Wednesday, which came as a surprise to some investors who criticized the size of this initial cut. This is the first rate reduction delivered by the Fed in four years.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, lifting yields to 3.74% from Wednesday’s 3.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices took on $1.41 to $72.32 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices strengthened $13.50 to $2,612.10.