The Canadian market ended sharply higher on Wednesday as investors picked up stocks across the board, reacting positively to data from U.S. Labor Department that showed consumer prices came in flat in the month of July.

Investors also reacted to a slew of earnings updates from Canadian companies.

The data said the consumer price index was unchanged in July after jumping by 1.3% a month earlier. Economists had expected prices to edge up by 0.2%.

The data also said core consumer prices, excluding food and energy prices, rose by 0.3% in July, as against expectations for a 0.5% increase. The annual rate of core consumer price growth was unchanged at 5.9%, while economists had expected an acceleration to 6.1%.

The tamer than expected inflation data has led to speculation that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of interest rate hikes at its September meeting.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index with a gain of 307.64 points or 1.57% at 19,885.94, slightly off the day's high of 19,911.02.

Shares from technology , healthcare, consumer discretionary, financials, real estate and materials sectors posted strong gains.

Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) soared 13.2%. Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) climbed nearly 10%, Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) surged 7.8% and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) advanced 5%.

Technology stock Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO) zoomed 20.5%. Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) rallied 12.3%, while Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Dye & Durham (DND.TO) and Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO) gained 9 to 10%. Kinaxis (KXS.TO) and Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) gained 7.5% and 7%, respectively.

Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO) surged nearly 9%. The company reported net loss of $1 million in the second quarter of 2022, compared to net income of $1.6 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Despite the results, the Magnet Forensics shares are up nearly 10%.

Consumer discretionary stocks Brp Inc (DOO.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Aritzia (ATZ.TO) and Magna International (MG.TO) gained 3.5 to 6%.

Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) rallied nearly 2.5%. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) also posted strong gains.

Boyd Group Services Inc. (BYD.TO) soared 20.6% after the company announced that its adjusted net earnings for the second quarter increased to $13.6 million, compared with $11.4 million in the same period last year. Adjusted net earnings per share came in at $0.63, compared with $0.53 a year ago.

ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (ATA.TO) climbed 7.15% after the company reported net earnings of $39.4 million for the first quarter, up 37.3% over the year-ago quarter.

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