Everything You Need to Know on Thursday: Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Rises Past 23,000 for First Time

Good morning mooers! Here are things you need to know about today's market:

● S&P/TSX 60 Index Standard Futures are trading at 1,377.60, down 0.56% from previous close

● Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Rises Past 23,000 for First Time

● Canadian oil exports from new pipeline shift to U.S. from Asia

● Parkland Corp. second-quarter earnings total $70 million

Today, the Canadian dollar is trading at 72.30 cents US, a slight increase from previous close.

S&P/TSX 60 Index Standard Futures are trading at 1,377.60, down 0.56% from previous close.

Canada’s stocks benchmark, the S&P/TSX Composite Index, has closed above 23,000 points for the first time as investors rotate into value, commodity and low-volatility stocks.

The S&P/TSX rose 1.3% to close at 23,110.81 points on Wednesday, led by the information technology and energy sectors. This is the 14th record in the Toronto stocks gauge this year. Unlike the US, where gains have mainly been driven by a handful of mega-cap technology giants, the rally in Canada has been broad-based.

First, sharp gains in commodity prices earlier this year — including oil, gold and copper — helped lift energy and materials equities in Canada, which collectively make up over 30% of the index. Then, a rotation into defensive and value stocks propelled further gains in the gauge.

“If global investor appetite continues to shift more toward lower volatility cheap stocks, history would suggest Canada could continue to benefit over the rest of the developed world,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Gillian Wolff.

Canadian crude exports from the recently expanded Trans Mountain pipeline are shifting to the U.S. from Asia, showing how the major project’s effect on global oil markets remains in flux.

Exports by tanker to the Far East in July fell 45 per cent from a month earlier to 107,000 barrels a day, while shipments to the U.S. West Coast — mostly to California — more than tripled to 240,000 barrels a day, Vortexa ship-tracking data show. Shipments to China, the biggest Asian buyer, fell by about 36 per cent to 91,400 barrels a day.

The decline marks a change after Asia — largely China and India — became the top destination for Canadian crude shipped off the newly expanded Trans Mountain pipeline, which started full service in June. In its first month, exports across the Pacific were more than double shipments to the U.S. West Coast.

The Trans Mountain expansion was built partly to lessen Canada’s almost total dependence on the U.S. market, particularly on refiners in the Midwest and Gulf Coast. But many observers, including Wood Mackenzie Ltd., expected more exports to flow to U.S. refiners because Canada’s barrels would have trouble competing with a flood of Russian crude in Asian markets.

To be sure, the volume sent to Asia in July may increase because some tankers en route to California are heading to an area off the coast where they transfer oil onto larger tankers bound for more distant destinations. In addition, one very-large crude carrier holding Canadian crude lists Los Angeles as its destination, but is floating off the Southern California coast and may eventually head west to Asia.

Parkland revised its guidance for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the year to $1.9 billion, down from $2 billion.

Diluted earnings per share were 39 cents, down from 43 cents last year.

Parkland revised its guidance for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the year to $1.9 billion, down from $2 billion.

It attributed the softer guidance to the unplanned shutdown at its Burnaby refinery in the first quarter, and unfavourable market conditions that it says could persist throughout the year.

The company’s refinery in Burnaby, B.C., saw a shutdown in January due to extreme cold weather.