The Toronto stock market higher Thursday, even as investors played it cautious heading into the long Easter weekend and consolidate profits at the end of a positive week.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 53.87 points, to end Thursday at 14,500.39
The Canadian dollar inched lower 0.01 cents at 90.79 cents U.S.
Among financials, insurer Manulife Financial added 29 cents to $20.66, and rival Sun Life Financial advanced 55 cents to $36.85.
Metals and mining stocks ended the week on an upward note, even though Teck Resources lost nine cents to $24.31
Shares of energy producers led the pack as Suncor Energy prospered 33 cents to $40.47, and Encana gained 14 cents to $25.78.
Stocks in the gold sector demurred, most notably Barrick Gold, which shed 38 cents to $19.81, and Goldcorp dropped 21 cents to $26.01.
On the economic schedule, Statistics Canada reported that its consumer price index rose 1.5% in the 12 months to March, following a 1.1% increase in February.
The agency also said that the number of those receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits was little changed in February at 506,500. Compared with 12 months earlier, the number of beneficiaries was down 4.9%.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said an interest rate cut is still a possibility even though the bank forecasts inflation will pick up speed this year and approach its 2% target.
A new poll out by Reuters shows Canada's economy will grow only modestly over the next two years and underperform the United States as high household debt levels and a cooling housing market restrain consumer spending.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 0.80 points to 998.77
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher on the day, led by energy stocks, up 1.3%, metals and mining, up 0.7%, and financials, ahead 0.5%.
The five laggards were weighed by gold and consumer staple stocks, each down 0.7%, and health-care issues, down 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Investors left for the long weekend today, leaving mixed signals behind
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surrendered 16.31 points to adjourn for Easter at 16,408.54
The S&P 500 gained 2.54 points to 1,864.85, and the NASDAQ composite index gained 9.29 to 4,095.52.
Both IBM and Google reported weaker than expected earnings last night, and they're being punished for it.
IBM is down more than 3%. "Big Blue" was a refuge when the momentum stocks relentlessly sold off last week, but not today.
Google is also down nearly 3%. Ad volume surged 26% in the most recent quarter. While that would be impressive for just about anybody else, Wall Street is now conditioned to see anything less than spectacular as mediocre when it comes to Google.
One technology company finishing the week with a bang: Sandisk surged nearly 10%. The memory chip maker for smartphones beat earnings and revenue targets for the first quarter. Sandisk also said it's boosting its gross margin expectations for this year.
Sandisk competitor Micron Technology recently told a similar story about memory chip demand in its latest earnings release.
But investors seemed to have had there fill with one stock: Chipotle. The stock surged 5% this morning, but is now lower. The restaurant chain missed earnings estimates but revenue came in higher than Wall Street had predicted, a sign that folks braved the wind and snow to get their burritos.
Banks are another bright spot today. Goldman Sachs is sharply higher after strongly outperforming Wall Street expectations, its investment banking revenue the highest it’s been since 2007.
Fellow financial Morgan Stanley is also having a good day after reporting that first quarter earnings surged 63% and revenues grew 10%.
The stock of retailer Sears Holdings is up sharply after an SEC filing shows that board member Thomas Tisch recently bought 475,000 shares.
China's Weibo rallied. It debuted on the NASDAQ earlier, but the microblogger had to cut its offering from 20 million shares to just under 17 million, raising less money than expected.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dropped sharply, spiking yields to 2.72% from Wednesday’s 2.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 68 cents to $104.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $8.90 to $1,294.60 U.S. an ounce.
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