TSX closes at another record, Wall Street mixed following Reddit resurgence

 

While it was another day of modest moves for North American markets, Bay Street finished at a record for a third straight session as the “meme stock” trading frenzy continued.

In addition to BlackBerry, AMC Entertainment, GameStop as well as Bed Bath and Beyond, Reddit investors turned their attention to Wendy’s and Clover Health.

As the wild trading continues, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission vowed Monday to protect retail investors.

Listen to 680 Business Editor Stuart McGinn’s report on the new “meme stocks” here:

Attention was on internet cloud services provider Fastly, after the company said it had addressed an internal problem that caused dozens of websites around the globe to go down briefly. Shares finished higher by nearly 11%.

Markets also digested upbeat economic data on both sides of the border.

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Eyes will be on the Bank of Canada Wednesday. Economists are preparing for the central bank’s latest decision on interest rates.

Last month, federal budget officer Yves Giroux said he expects the bank to raise its trendsetting interest rate by half a percentage point in the second half of 2022, rising thereafter until it hits 2.5 per cent, which would affect rates charged on things like mortgages and business loans.

BoC deputy governor Toni Gravelle said in March that the central bank was suspending market liquidity-focused programs as corporate and provincial borrowers had ”unfettered access to fully functional debt markets” and that it was clear the bank’s involvement was no longer required.

Following Wednesday’s announcement, deputy governor Timothy Lane is set to give a speech by video webcast and hold a news conference Thursday.

The Canadian dollar traded at 82.71 cents U.S. compared with 82.83 cents U.S. on Monday.