Canada's main stock index moved up the charts as morning gave way to afternoon Thursday, on the back of gains in health-care and tech stocks, while easing worries over the impact of the omicron variant also boosted sentiment.
The S&P/TSX Composite approached noon EST Thursday up 61.15 points to 21,405.80
The Canadian dollar lost 0.29 cents to 78.20 cents U.S.
TD Securities cut the target price on K-BRO Linen to $49.00 from $55.00. K-BRO shares climbed 25 cents to $34.00.
Elsewhere, cannabis concerns led the way higher, with Tilray ahead 58 cents, or 6.4%, to $9.58, while Cronos Group climbed 30 cents, or 6.1%, to $5.22.
Among tech issues, Viq Solutions acquired 19 cents, or 6.2%, to $3.24, while Lightspeed POS took on $2.99 or 5.8%, to $54.49.
Gold stocks cleared breakeven, with Equinox Gold up 24 cents, or 2.9%, to $8.53, while Sandstorm Gold gained 19 cents, or 2.5%, to $7.95.
Only energy companies slowed things down, with Birchcliff Energy sliding 10 cents, or 1.5%, to $6.54, and Arc Resources off 15 cents, or 1.3%, to $11.72.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 3.9 points to 928.18.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups moved to higher ground led by health-care, up 3.3%, information technology, ahead 1.3%, and gold, brighter 0.7%.
The lone laggard was energy, down 0.2%.
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 45 points to 36,533.63.
The much-broader S&P 500 index added 8.72 points to 4,801.78
The NASDAQ regained 78.14 points at 15,844.25.
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 2.6% and Carnival gained 2.3%.
Financial stocks inched higher with American Express and JPMorgan Chase 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 1.53% from Wednesday’s 1.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hung onto 15 cents to $76.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $6.60 to $1,812.40 U.S. an ounce.
