Equities in Canada’s largest market opened higher on Thursday on the back of gains in health-care and mining stocks, while easing worries over the impact of the omicron variant also boosted sentiment.
The S&P/TSX Composite opened Thursday up 27.53 points to 21,372.18
The Canadian dollar dived 0.09 cents to 78.22 cents U.S.
TD Securities cut the target price on K-BRO Linen to $49.00 from $55.00. K-BRO shares climbed 33 cents, or 1%, to $34.08.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 0.92 points to 923.26.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups moved skyward, led by health-care, up 2.5%, gold, brighter 0.7%, and materials, stronger by 0.5%.
The two laggards were consumer staples, down 0.3%, and communications, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose Thursday after the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average reached new record highs in the previous session.
The 30-stock index grew 60.45 points to 36,549.08.
The S&P 500 index strengthened 10.91 points to 4,803.97
The NASDAQ regained 76.09 points at 15,842.31.
Thursday is the second-last trading session of 2021. The end of the year is a historically strong period for stocks, which has been dubbed the "Santa Claus rally."
The S&P 500 has risen during the period — the last five trading days of the year followed by the first two sessions in January — 78.5% of the time since 1928, according to Bank of America.
Travel-related stocks rebounded Thursday after seesawing in trading this week as investors monitor developments with the omicron COVID variant. Norwegian Cruise Line rose 3% and Carnival gained 2.8%.
Financial stocks inched higher with American Express, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs among the leaders on the Dow.
Meanwhile, Biogen slid more than 7% on Thursday after Samsung denied a report in The Korea Economic Daily that it was in talks to buy Biogen. The stock led decliners on the S&P 500 and NASDAQ. Biogen shares had surged 9.5% on Wednesday on the report.
Chip stocks struggled with Micron Technology and AMD lower. Micron on Wednesday warned COVID-related closures in China are impacting the company’s production output.
On the data front, jobless claims last week came in lower than expected, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Initial claims totaled 198,000 for the week ended Dec. 25, while economists surveyed by Dow Jones projected 205,000.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys regained lost strength, lowering yields to 1.54% from Wednesday’s 1.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked 46 cents to $77.02 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $1.80 to $1,807.60 U.S. an ounce.
