Stocks on Bay Street traded higher on Friday -- led by a jump in gold stocks -- as investors snapped up beaten down shares following a huge selloff over the last two sessions. Traders were also encouraged after a report showed Canada unexpectedly added jobs in October.
The S&P/TSX composite index rose 40.80 points to 9,596.21.
On the coporate side -- Air Canada shares lost 16 percent -- or 86 cents to $4.50 -- after it posted a net loss of $132 million in the third quarter as the airline's fuel bill soared 49 percent to $1.1 billion.
But Quebecor Inc. reported third-quarter earnings of $45.6 million, up from a year-ago loss of $35.2 million. Revenue increased 8.8 percent to $908.1 million, with the improvement driven by the media and telecommunications group's Videotron cable subsidiary, against ''disappointing results in publishing and at Sun Media.''
Tim Hortons Inc. shares were up after the company served up a 16.9 percent rise in third-quarter profit $78.8 million as revenue sweetened 3.8 percent to $509 million. Same-store sales rose 3.8 per cent in Canada but declined 0.6 percent in the United States.
Telecom giant Telus Corp. reported a 30 percent decline in third-quarter net income to $285.1 million, while revenue grew 6 percent to $2.45 billion.
In Canada, the jobless rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 6.2 percent for October, as the economy beat expectations by adding 9,500 jobs. But Statistics Canada said the increase came with the addition of 40,000 public-sector administrative workers, mostly for the federal election. Meanwhile, private-sector employers cut 20,000 positions.
In the United States job numbers weren't quite as positive. The Labour Department said the nation's employers cut 240,000 jobs in October, hurtling the U.S. unemployment rate to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent. The report also said 284,000 jobs were lost in September -- a much higher figure than the 159,000 originally reported.
The Census Bureau's wholesale inventories report for September showed a decline of 0.1 percent, down from a 0.6 percent increase in August but below the consensus forecast of a 0.3 percent uptick.
The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index declined 4.6 percent, a heftier loss than the 3.4 percent anticipated by analysts.
In other US news -- President-elect Barack Obama said the US economy is facing the ''greatest economic challenge of our lifetime,'' and said he will take all necessary steps to confront the crisis. He said if a second stimulus package is not passed by the lame-duck Congress that it will be his first priority once he takes office on Jan. 20.
The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, was trading at 84.09 cents US, up 0.58 cents after losing almost three cents during the past two days.
BAYSTREET
Six of the TSX sub-groups traded higher today -- gold stocks edged up 4.91 percent followed by a 1.01 percent in energy issues and a 0.78 percent rise in real-estate stocks.
COMEX gold for December delivery rose 80 cents to $733 US an ounce.
On the downside -- health-care stocks shed 2.71 percent; mining issues fell 2.09 and telecom issues were down 1.11 percent.
Meanwhile, the TSX Venture Exchange moved up 1.72 points to 921.85 while NASDAQ Canada stocks were ahead 6.97 points at 490.42.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks climbed on Friday, paring the severity of weekly declines, as bargain hunters stepped in after two days of losses, helping foster hope that global intervention will help an economy that shed nearly a quarter million jobs in October.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 248 points at 8943, and the S&P 500 added 25 points to 930. The Nasdaq jumped 38 points to 1647.
Of the Dow's 30 components, all but two ended in the green, with Alcoa Inc. gaining the most, up 9.1 percent.
Shares of General Motors Corp. fell the hardest, off 9.2 percent, after the automaker reported a third-quarter loss of $2.54 billion.
Entertainment giant Disney reported decreased earnings, in part because of a charge related to debt owed by bankrupt brokerage Lehman Brothers. Fellow entertainment firm Discovery Communications beat Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines, and offered in-line guidance for its fiscal 2008 revenue.
Disney added 2.4 percent to $22.36, and Discovery rocketed 17 percent to $14.09.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were falling in price. The 10-year note was down 24/32, yielding 3.78 percent, and the 30-year was lower by 1-2/32 to yield 4.26 percent. The American dollar was higher vs. the yen and pound, but softening against the euro.
U.S. light crude oil for December delivery settled up 27 cents to $61.04 US a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after ending the previous session at a 19-month low.
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