Another historic, record day for stocks in Canada’s largest market, as consumer and real estate provided the punch markets needed Thursday.
The TSX Composite Index gained 69.6 points to finish off Thursday at 17,484.77
The Canadian dollar shied away 0.01 cents to 76.67 cents U.S.
Consumer discretionary stocks were the champions on Thursday, with Sleep Country Holdings waking up 39 cents, or 1.9%, to $20.96, while Dollarama advanced 72 cents, or 1.6%, to $45.69.
Real-estate stocks moved higher, as Tricon Capital Group popped 22 cents, or 2%, to $11.16, while CT REIT gained 30 cents, or 1.9%, to $16.26.
Among consumer staples, Cott Corporation soared 51 cents, or 2.7%, to $19.18, while Empire Company, parent of Sobeys, added 53 cents, or 1.8%, to $30.87.
Materials provided a drag on the festivities, as Ero Copper dipped 79 cents, or 3.8%, to $20.24, while Pan American Silver fell $1.46, or 4.9%, to $28.24.
In the gold patch, IAMGOLD slipped 28 cents, or 6.4%, to $4.11.
Bombardier shares tumbled 57 cents, or 31.8%, to $1.22, their lowest level since March 2016, after the company warned of lower 2019 profits and said it might have to write down significantly the value of its partnership with Airbus on A220 jets.
On the economic slate, the Canadian Real Estate Association said MLS sales edged down by 0.9% in December.
This ended a streak of monthly gains that began last March. Activity is currently about 18% above the six-year low reached in February 2019 but ends the year about 7% below the heights recorded in 2016 and 2017.
Also lifting the mood was a report from payroll services provider ADP which showed Canada added 46,200 jobs in December, the sixth straight month of gains.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange spiked 6.1 points, or 1.1%, to 583.11
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups stayed green all day, consumer discretionary charging ahead 1.2%, real-estate, stronger by 1%, and consumer staples, 0.8% to the good.
The two laggards were materials, dropping 0.8%, while gold dulled in price 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Thursday to fresh record highs after Morgan Stanley reported quarterly figures that easily topped analyst expectations while investors digested solid data on the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials spiked 207 points to 29,237.22
The S&P 500 gained 27.52 points to 3,307.57, smashing the 3,300 level for the first time.
The NASDAQ leaped 98.44 points, or 1.1%, to 9,357.13, as Microsoft hit record levels while Google-parent Alphabet’s market cap topped $1 trillion for the first time.
Morgan Stanley’s three main businesses — investment management, wealth management and trading — all produced more revenue than expected in the previous quarter. The company’s stock jumped 6.5%.
So far, the earnings season is off to a solid start. Around 7% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings thus far. Of those companies, 76.5% have posted better-than-expected expectations.
Expectations about the earnings season were muted prior to this week. Analysts expected S&P 500 earnings to have fallen by 2% in the fourth quarter
Strong economic data also lifted sentiment on Wall Street. Weekly jobless claims unexpectedly dropped by 10,000 to 204,000. Economists expected a print of 216,000. Meanwhile, retail sales climbed by 0.3% in December, matching expectations.
Stocks closed well off their session highs on Wednesday after President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed a “phase-one” trade deal in Washington, D.C. Under the agreement, China is set to buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods over the next two years.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury sagged, raising yields to 1.81% from Wednesday’s 1.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 67 cents to $58.48 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped 30 cents to $1,553.70 U.S. an ounce.
