Equities in Canada’s largest market celebrated near triple-digit gains, inhaling the relief from the first round of French presidential elections over the weekend.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index vaulted 97.98 points to close Monday at 15,712.46
The Canadian dollar ducked 0.13 cents at 74.04 cents U.S.
Financials got traction, as Royal Bank of Canada rose $1.52, or 1.6%, to $96.07, Toronto-Dominion Bank advanced $1.05, or 1.6%, to $66.68 and Bank of Nova Scotia added $1.14, or 1.5% to $77.97.
Home Capital Group shares fell $1.75, or 9.1%, to $17.50 after the country's biggest non-bank lender said founder and former Chief Executive Officer Gerald Soloway would step down from its board, days after regulators accused the company of making "materially misleading statements" to investors.
Home Capital's shares had fallen 20.7% on Thursday but gained 8.7% on Friday.
Industrials proved mightier Monday, as Canadian National Railways chugged ahead $1.26, or 1.3%, to $102.21, while rival Canadian Pacific progressed $1.33 to $208.21.
Among tech stocks, BlackBerry moved up 28 cents, or 2.3%, to $12.56, while Constellation Software acquired 16 cents to $638.99.
Gold stocks, though, had a tough time of it Monday, as Kinross Gold was punished 15 cents, or 2.9%, to $5.07, while Barrick Gold gave back 27 cents, or 1%, to $25.71.
Among materials stocks, Urbana Corporation got socked nine cents, or 2.4%, to $3.64.
An OPEC and non-OPEC technical committee recommended on Friday that producers extend a global deal to cut oil supplies for another six months from June
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported Monday that February’s wholesale trade was $58.9 billion in February, down 0.2%, following four consecutive monthly gains.
The agency goes on to say that declines were recorded in four sub-sectors, led by lower sales in the personal and household goods and the food, beverage and tobacco sub-sectors.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 6.84 points to 818.08.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with financials climbing 1.6%, while industrials and information technology stocks were each up 1%
The three laggards were gold, dropping 1.7%, while materials were off 0.5%, and real-estate issues faded 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities soared on Monday as investors cheered the results of the first round in the French presidential election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rocketed 216.13 points, or 1.1%, to 20,763.89, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 hiked 25.46 points, or 1.1%, to 2,374.15, with financials surging more than 2% to lead advancers.
The NASDAQ Composite hit a new all-time high, leaping 73.3 points, or 1.1%, to 5,983.82
Wall Street also braced itself for a busy week of earnings. About 200 S&P components are set to report this week, including Google-parent Alphabet, Microsoft and 3M.
Of the 95 S&P 500 companies that have reported as of Monday, 77% exceeded earnings expectations
However, investors could be looking at a potential government shutdown. Government funding will end Friday unless Congress can agree on at least a temporary funding resolution.
The last time the government shut down was Oct. 1 through 16, 2013.
Overseas, early results from the French election showed Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen advancing to a presidential runoff. Far-right candidate Le Pen and centrist Macron were largely expected to pull ahead in the first round of the French contest. The two had led most of the polls leading up to the election.
Le Pen and Macron will face off again on May 7. Most polls show Macron easily beating Le Pen in the second round.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell, raising yields to 2.27% from Friday’s 2.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 40 cents at $49.22 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dived $11.00 at $1,278.10 U.S. an ounce.
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