Bargain hunters found what they wanted in the early going on Thursday, bringing equity markets noticeably higher, as nerves quelled following yesterday’s slaying of a military reservist on Parliament Hill.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 88.99 points to begin trading Thursday at 14,401.06, after a 200-point-plus plunge Wednesday.
The Canadian dollar eased 0.01 cents at 89.02 cents U.S.
Cenovus Energy reported a 4% fall in quarterly profit mainly due to an outage at a refinery. Cenovus shares hiked 66 cents, or 2.5%, to $26.93
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan's net income fell 11%, hurt by lower contributions from overseas investments and higher income tax. Potash shares tailed off 23 cents to $36.65.
Raymond James cut the target on First Majestic Silver to $12.75 from $15.50; with an outperform rating. First Majestic shares eked up six cents to $19.02.
Raymond James raised the rating on Mullen Group to market perform, while cutting the price target to $25. Mullen Group shares dropped $1.14, or 4.9%, to $22.08.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to redouble the country's fight against "terrorist organizations" abroad after a reported convert to Islam rampaged through parliament, shocking the usually tranquil capital city of Ottawa.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that the number of regular Employment Insurance recipients in August was essentially unchanged, at 498,100. Compared with 12 months earlier, the number of beneficiaries fell by 18,800 or 3.6%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.77 points to 808.77.
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher, with energy issues jumping 1.7%, industrials up 1.4%, and consumer staples ahead 1%.
The two laggards were weighed most by telecoms, down 0.4%, and gold, down 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The U.S. stock market moved sharply higher on Thursday, as investors cheered upbeat manufacturing data from eurozone and better-than-expected earnings from Caterpillar Inc, 3M Co and General Motors.
The Dow Jones Industrials roared higher 231.92 points, or 1.4%, to 16,493.24
The S&P 500 gained 24.82 points to 1,951.93. The NASDAQ index hiked 65.29 points to 4,448.14.
Shares of Dow industrials component Caterpillar leapt 4.6%. The heavy-equipment maker raised its earnings outlook for the year to $6.50 U.S. a share, from $6.20 U.S., while keeping the midpoint of its revenue view unchanged. Third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.72 U.S. a share outstripped expectations of $1.36 U.S. a share.
3M another component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, said third-quarter earnings were $1.98 U.S. a share, above expectations of $1.96 U.S. a share from a survey of analysts. Sales of $8.1 billion U.S., however, were shy of Wall Street’s estimate of $8.227 billion U.S.. Shares of the maker of Post-it notes and other industrial goods rose 4.7%.
General Motors posted earnings, excluding one-time costs, of 97 cents U.S. a share, higher than projections of 95 cents a share. GM rose 0.9%.
Shares in Tractor Supply Co surged 16%, after it reported quarterly results after the market close on Wednesday, beating consensus estimates. The stock was raised to strong buy from market-perform by Raymond James.
Southwest Airlines Co. reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of 55 cents a share, more than Wall Street’s estimate of 53 cents U.S. a share. Shares gained 2.5%. Southwest stock gained more than 85% since the start of the year.
Economically speaking, Markit said the initial October reading of its euro-zone manufacturing purchasing managers index reached a two-month high at 50.7, above expectations of a reading at 50. The report offered some upbeat news at a time when worries about slowing global economic growth have prompted investors to sell off equities world-wide.
But the report also suggested manufacturers and service providers don’t expect a significant pickup in the pace of activity in the coming months. Markit will release its initial October purchasing manufacturing index for the U.S. at 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time.
The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by 17,000 last week to 283,000. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected claims to rise to a seasonally-adjusted 285,000 in the week ended Oct. 18.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell, raising yields to 2.26% from Wednesday’s 2.23%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 71 cents to $81.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $10.50 to $1,235.00 U.S. an ounce.
