The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday as a spate of strong corporate earnings and upbeat forecasts stoked investor risk appetite and sparked a broad rally. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that the S&P/TSX Composite Index ended lower, however, as declines in heavyweight financials and energy sectors weighed on the Canadian benchmark. It closed below the 19,000 threshold for the first time in a year, as investors awaited a Bank of Canada interest-rate decision Wednesday. All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced, with interest-rate sensitive megacaps providing much of the upside lift as benchmark Treasury yields held steady, comfortably below their recent spike to 5 per cent. This week nearly a third of the companies in the S&P 500 are expected to post results. Of the 118 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 81 per cent have beaten analyst expectations, according to LSEG. The Toronto market closed at 18,986.49, down 60.25 points, its fifth straight day of declines. Energy shares fell 1.4 per cent as oil settled more than 2 per cent lower at $83.74 (U.S.) a barrel after weak European economic data dented prospects for energy demand.