Stocks left early-week losses in the dust for at least one day Thursday, as resource stocks led the comeback.
The S&P/TSX stayed positive 80.54 to finish the day at 20,181.92.
The Canadian dollar moved sharply forward, 0.44 cents at 78.04 cents U.S.
Gold stocks led the charge Thursday morning, with Iamgold charging ahead 25 cents, or 9.4%, to $2.92, while Wesdome Gold surged 91 cents, or 8.1%, to $12.09.
In tech issues, Converge Technology Solutions hiked 69 cents, or 10.4%, to $7.30, while Lightspeed POS jumped $2.55, or 9.8%, to $28.57.
In other resource stocks, Fortuna Silver Mines grabbed 42 cents, or 10.6%, to $4.38, while MAG Silver picked up $1.53, or 9%, to $18.55.
Communications fell, though, with TELUS Corp. losing 75 cents, or 2.4%, to $30.60, while BCE faded $1.18, or 1.7%, to $67.14.
In industrials, NFI Group got bruised 32 cents, or 2,4%, to $13.15, while MTL slid 28 cents, or 2.2%, to $12.52.
Consumer staples also had trouble getting untracked, as Primo Water Corporation dumping 65 cents, or 3.6%, to $17.30, while George Weston dipped $2.63, or 1.8%, to $147.72.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported its industrial product price index rose 0.8% month over month in April and was up 16.4% year over year.
The agency’s raw materials price index decreased 2.0% on a monthly basis in April and rose 38.4% year over year.
Elsewhere, StatsCan reported new home prices in April rose 0.3% compared with March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange galloped 14.41 points, or 2.1%, to 705.85.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, with gold up 4.2%, information technology and materials each progressing 3%.
Communication stocks waned 1.1%, industrials were down 0.8%, and consumer staples dipped 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell Thursday as the benchmark inched closer to a bear market. Investors continued to dump equities on fears Federal Reserve rate hikes to fight rapid inflation would tip the economy into a recession.
The Dow Jones Industrials had made progress Thursday, but sagged 236.94 points by the close to 31.253.13.
The S&P 500 lost another 22.89 points to 3,900.79.
The index is teetering on bear market territory sitting about 18% below its record reached in January.
The NASDAQ Composite weakened from gains earlier in the session, losing 29.66 points to 11,388.50.
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are both down more than 3% for the week, while the Dow has lost 2.9%. Those losses were driven in part by back-to-back quarterly reports from Target and Walmart that showed higher fuel costs and restrained consumer demand hurting results amid the hottest inflation in decades.
Even after a 24% drop on Wednesday, Target shares were lower again Thursday by 5.1%.
Cisco was the latest major company to plunge on results with the tech bellwether down 13.7% on Thursday. Cisco said after the bell Wednesday that quarterly revenue fell short of analysts’ expectations and it warned revenue would disappoint in the current quarter.
On the other hand, a rebound in some tech stocks boosted the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ at various points during Thursday trading. Shares of Synopsys gained 10.3% in Thursday trading after the software company posted an earnings beat. Shares of cloud company Datadog jumped 9.6%.
Nvidia and Amazon also closed into the green Thursday.
Meanwhile, U.S. weekly jobless claims rose to 218,000 for the week ending May 14, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday, the latest hint that economic growth is slowing.
Treasury prices gained ground, lowering yields to 2.85% from Wednesday’s 2.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained $1.71 to $111.30 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $24.10 to $1,840 U.S. an ounce.
