North American markets bounce back from very weak start to quarter

TORONTO – North American stock markets bounced back from a weak start to the quarter even though U.S. services data further signalled a slowing economy.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 58.06 points at 16,369.03.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 122.42 points at 26,201.04. The S&P 500 index was up 23.02 points at 2,910.63, while the Nasdaq composite was up 87.02 points at 7,872.26.

The Canadian dollar traded for an average of 75.02 cents US compared with an average of 75.22 cents US on Wednesday.

The November crude contract was down 19 cents at US$52.45 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up 8.2 cents at US$2.33 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$5.90 at US$1,513.80 an ounce and the December copper contract was down 1.7 cents at US$2.55 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2019.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version stated that S&P and Nasdaq markets had moved lower.