The markets today

North American markets got a lift to start the week on positive signs that the trade impasse between the U.S. and China isn’t rapidly devolving. The catalyst for Monday’s increases was the Trump administration extending a limited reprieve on U.S. technology sales to Huawei that will likely become a negotiating point between the world’s two largest economies, says Craig Fehr, Canadian markets strategist, Edward Jones.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 154.26 points at 16,304.05.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 249.78 points at 26,135.79. The S&P 500 index was up 34.97 points at 2,923.65, while the Nasdaq composite was up 106.82 points at 8,002.81.

Fehr said global central banks, including the Federal Reserve, are moving to lower interest rates. Fed chairman Jerome Powell will address expected further rate cuts at a meeting Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The European Central Bank and German policy-makers have also indicated willingness to institute aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus to help the struggling German economy.

And in China, the central bank unveiled an interest-rate reform designed to lower borrowing costs.

Health care was the lone sector of the TSX to fall as shares of several cannabis producers moved lower, including Canopy Growth Corp., down 4.3 per cent, and Aphria Inc., down 3.5 per cent.

The energy sector gained 2.45 per cent to lead the sectors as higher crude prices supported a 5.9 per cent gain by Encana Corp. Husky Energy Inc. rose 5.13 per cent after an analyst suggested its low share price makes it a good time for the company to be taken private. The October crude contract was up US$1.33 at US$56.14 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up one cent at US$2.21 per mmBTU. Crude prices rose on an improved global outlook along with heightened geopolitical risk following the weekend attack on a Saudi oil facility by Yemeni rebels.

After bond yields inverted last week to signal a potential recession, the 10-year yield curve has increased and pushed up the U.S. dollar. The Canadian dollar traded for an average of 75.20 cents US compared with an average of 75.27 cents US on Friday.