Canadian markets nudged higher Wednesday as geopolitical developments and central bank activity remained in focus. The Bank of Canada increased its target for the overnight rate by 25 basis points to 2.5%, with the Bank Rate at 2.75% and the deposit rate at 2.45%.
Meanwhile, US equities were mixed ahead of key earnings reports from tech giants and the Federal Reserve’s latest rate decision. The Federal Open Market Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3% – 3.75% to 4%.
| TSX | 36,265.09 | +93.60 |  |
| TSXV | 839.00 | +0.52 | |
| CSE | 140.68 | +0.32 | |
| DJIA | 52,475.10 | +97.53 | |
| NASDAQ | 26,549.85 | +72.04 | |
| S&P 500 | 7,743.98 | +21.38 | |
The Canadian dollar traded for 71.39 cents US compared to 71.16 cents US on Tuesday.
US crude futures traded US$2.81 higher at US$97.09 a barrel, and the Brent contract rose US$1.42 to US$115.30 a barrel.
The price of gold was down US$6.89 to US$4,055.81.
In world markets, the Nikkei was up 685.82 points to ¥63,954.19, the Hang Seng was up 53.51 points to HK$23,094.83, the FTSE was down 2.84 points to ₤10,683.70, and the DAX was up 106.68 points to €25,697.45.