North American markets surged ahead Tuesday, continuing to build on momentum from record-highs seen last week and little scheduled on the economic docket in Canada and the U.S.
The S&P/TSX composite index acquired 53.53 points to greet noon Tuesday at 12,583.08, off its highs of the morning.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.42 cents to 98.52 cents U.S.
BlackBerry chief executive Thorsten Heins announced at the company's annual conference in Florida that it will launch another smartphone with a physical keyboard this summer and make its BBM messenger service available to Android and iPhones by the end of the year. Its shares were down 0.8%, or 13 cents, to $15.91.
Canada's largest home improvement retailer Rona Inc. saw its shares drop nearly 3%, or 31 cents, to $10.32 after it reported that its first-quarter loss was larger compared to the same time last year. Rona says it had a $22.7-million adjusted net loss applicable to participating shares, or 19 cents per share.
That's up from a loss of $13.5 million or 11 cents per share last year. Overall revenue was down slightly, slipping by $4.6 million to $929.4 million.
Meanwhile, Tim Hortons shares were up 0.8% or 43 cents, to $56.08 as the coffee chain announced it was buying back more than a million of its common shares from an unidentified seller by the end of this month.
The cost of the Tim Hortons stock buyback wasn't disclosed by the company. But its shares closed Monday at $55.65 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, putting the price tag for a maximum purchase at about $70 million.
No major Canadian economic data was released today.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 3.02 points to 954.18
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher in early afternoon trading, led by health-care, up 2%, while industrials surged 1.2%, and energy gushed 0.7% higher.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by metals and mining stocks, taking a 1.5% hit, information technology, sliding 1.1%, while global base metals skidded 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose Tuesday as investors welcomed bullish comments from a top hedge fund manager.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained spiked 96.84 points midday to 15,188.50
The S&P 500 index was up 14.11 points to 1,647.88, while the NASDAQ Composite increased 28.27 points to 3,467.06
Stocks have been on a tear this year, with all three indexes up roughly 15%.
Stocks had largely been flat until David Tepper, founder of hedge fund Appaloosa Management, told CNBC that investors should not be concerned about the Federal Reserve winding down its bond-buying program too soon.
With little on the economic docket, investors were taking cues from corporate news.
Hedge fund titan Dan Loeb wants to spin off Sony's movie and music division. With a 6% stake, Loeb's Third Point hedge fund is now Sony's largest shareholder.
Shares of Sony have surged 84% this year amid a broad rally in Japanese stocks. Investors have been pouring money into Japan as Prime Minister Abe and the Bank of Japan have launched an aggressive campaign to revive the nation's economy.
The effort has caused a sharp depreciation in the value of the yen, which has helped boost profits for large Japanese exporters, including Toyota and Kirin
SolarCity -- chaired by Tesla head Elon Musk --reported a wider-than-expected loss and offered weak guidance, sending shares plunging. The sell-off spilled into rival First Solar
SolarCity, which makes solar-power systems for homes and businesses, has seen its stock nearly triple this year. But the industry is still struggling with competition from cheaper solar panels manufactured in China.
Shares of Take-Two Interactive jumped after the maker of Grand Theft Auto easily beat profit forecasts.
As earnings wind down, a few big names are still on deck this week, including Macy's, Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney andCisco
On the economic front, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported declines in import and export prices for April, continuing declines from March.
Imports prices fell 0.5% last month and export prices decreased 0.7%.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury receded, raising yields to 1.93% from Monday’s 1.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices docked eight cents to $95.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices let go of $7.30 at $1,427 U.S. an ounce
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