Stocks in Canada’s largest centre moved higher into the stratosphere Monday, as health-care stocks were boosted by massive gains in cannabis companies.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 72.04 points to close Monday at 16,092.20
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.31 cents to 78.67 cents U.S.
It was a banner day for health-care stocks, most notably in the cannabis industry, as Canopy Growth extended its recent rally, jumping $2.30, or 13.6% to $19.23. Rival Aphria leaped 65 cents, or 8.4%, to $8.40.
Encana Corp was up 71 cents, or 4.5%, to $16.46, while Cenovus Energy climbed 71 cents, or 5.2%, to $14.28.
Oil and gas companies rallied as crude prices touched their highest since July 2015 after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tightened his grip on power with the arrest of royals, ministers and investors. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter.
Gold miner Franco Nevada Corp, which jumped $5.96, or 5.9%, to $107.55 after reporting stronger-than-forecast results, was one of the most influential gainers. Elsewhere in the gold sector, Goldcorp moved ahead 23 cents, or 1.4%, to $16.94.
Among the few sectors that went red Monday was in consumer discretionary stocks, as Magna International surrendered $1.18, or 1.7%, to $69.15.
In industrials, Air Canada fell 89 cents, or 3.6%, to $24.00, while Canadian Pacific Railway jettisoned 22 cents to $220.18.
On the economic slate, Western University’s IVEY School of Business said its Purchasing Managers’ Index leaped in October to 63.8, compared to 59.6 in September, and 59.7 in October. The index solicits information from purchasing managers of businesses and asks whether their purchases improved, fell, or stayed static, and any reading over 50 indicates expansion.
The federal government's plan to legalize recreational marijuana by next July could be in jeopardy, with opposition brewing among some in the Senate and concerns that the deadline to pass the bill is rapidly approaching.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stayed positive 3.62 points to 795.60
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, health-care emphatically so, up 4.4%, while energy stocks muscled up 2.5% and gold shone brighter 1.9%.
The four laggards were weighed most by consumer discretionary issues, down 0.6%, industrials, slumping 0.5%, and information technology, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities hit record highs on Monday as sentiment on Wall Street was lifted by news of corporate deal making.
The Dow Jones industrial average nicked up 9.23 points to Friday’s record high to 23,548.42
The S&P 500 moved higher 3.29 points to 2,591.13, another all-time peak
The NASDAQ Composite sprinted 22 points to another all-time record to 6,786.44.
Broadcom offered to buy fellow chip maker Qualcomm for $103 billion U.S., or about $70.00 a share. If completed, the deal would be the biggest in the history of the tech sector. Reports of a potential bid first surfaced on Friday.
Qualcomm rose 1% while Broadcom rose 1.4%.
The proposed deal comes after President Donald Trump said last week that Broadcom would move its headquarters to the U.S. from Singapore. However, Qualcomm is expected to resist the offer.
In other deal making news, 21st Century Fox has been holding talks to sell most of the company to Disney, according to media reports. The news sent Fox's shares flying 9.9% higher; Disney shares rose 2%.
Elsewhere, shares of Advanced Micro Devices jumped on a report that the company will team up with Intel to compete with Nvidia in the laptop gaming chip market.
AMD traded 7.3% higher, while Intel rose 1.4%, and Nvidia shares gained 0.4%.
Earnings season moved forward on Monday, with CVS Health, Michael Kors and Mylan among the companies that reported before the bell.
Overall, it has been a very solid earnings season. Analysts at Credit Suisse said in a note that earnings are beating estimates by 6.1%, with 70% of S&P 500 companies topping bottom-line estimates.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained a bit of turf, lowering yields to 2.32% from Friday’s 2.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices strengthened $1.70 a barrel to $57.34 U.S.
Gold prices shot higher $12.70 an ounce to $1,282 U.S.
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