The TSX is up 64 points at midday, led by strong gains in cannabis stocks. The healthcare sector (which includes cannabis companies) is the biggest gainer, up 4%. Info tech is the second biggest gainer, up 0.8%.
Limiting gains are declines in miners (-0.7%) and energy (-0.2%).
In stocks, Canopy Growth WEED is up 22% and is the most actively traded, with near 7 million shares changing hands. Auxly Cannabis 
XLY, up 28% is the second most actively traded, followed by Tilray 
TLRY, up 11.6%.
Oil prices edged higher early on Tuesday as fresh US inventory data is awaited.
Gold pushed back above the US$2,200 mark as buying interest continues ahead of expected interest-rate cuts from central banks as inflation slows.
Natural gas was steady as the shoulder season takes hold with spring temperatures offering little demand gains.
In terms of clues as to the future rates path across North America, Wells Fargo Investment Institute (WFII) published its ‘Chart of the Week: Pricing in a repricing of rate cuts’.
Markets have seen a “drastic” reduction in the number of federal funds rate cuts priced in for 2024. Approximately 5.7 rate cuts were priced in at the start of the year, moving as high as 6.7 before declining to 2.9 as of March 19. In contrast, WFII’s forecast has called for three rate cuts by year-end 2024 (as of early January).
WFII also noted that as markets have scaled back expectations for the number of rate cuts in 2024, longer-term interest rates have moved higher. This has resulted in a negative impact to long-term fixed-income returns — as of March 19, total returns for U.S. Long Term Taxable Fixed Income saw a 4% year-to-date decline. WFII thinks further downward repricing of Federal
Reserve rate cuts is possible if inflation remains sticky or climbs higher than expected, but this is not its base case for now.
On what it may mean for investors, WFII said while it expects the Fed to begin cutting rates this summer, it thinks the declines will occur at a “somewhat” slow pace. “In our view, short-term interest rates are likely to stay elevated for some time, and we therefore maintain our most favorable guidance on short-term fixed income — we believe investors are rewarded with relatively low risk while waiting for more potentially compelling opportunities to present themselves. We currently hold a neutral position in both intermediate- and long-term fixed income for tactical investors.”