The Toronto stock market racked up a strong, triple-digit advance Thursday after four straight days of substantial losses.
The S&P/TSX composite index recovered from a loss of more than 240 points in the early going to shoot higher 183.09 points, or 1.3%, to close at 14,052.97
The Canadian dollar eked higher 0.02 cents at 88.88 cents U.S.
The TSX energy sector was ahead as crude rose. The energy group has plunged 20% over the past month. Suncor rose 83 cents to $37.14
Railway stocks boosted the industrials sector with Canadian National up $1.54 to $37.57.
The gold sector also provided lift, with Barrick Gold hiking 26 cents to $15.50.
The financials sector erased early losses to gain as RBC picked up eight cents to $77.34
Among base metals stocks, Teck Resources loosed 44 cents to $17.48
Economically speaking, Canadian manufacturing sales fell 3.3% in August to $52.1 billion, the first decline in 2014.
Statistics Canada also reported that foreign investment in Canadian securities totaled $10.3 billion in August and included both debt and equity instruments. Canadian investment in foreign securities decelerated from July, with holdings largely unchanged as acquisitions of non-U.S. foreign instruments were offset by a divestment in U.S. instruments.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 13.57 points to 791.93.
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher, as energy surged 3.2%, industrials picked up 2.5%, and health-care gained 1.6%.
The four laggards were metals and mining, down 1%, while materials and global base metals each faltered 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Apparently all Wall Street needed to end its panic attack was a little money printing talk.
The Dow Jones Industrials spent some time in positive territory, before falling 25.21 points to 16,116.53.
The S&P 500 inched higher 0.27 points to 1,862.76. The NASDAQ index gained 2.07 points to 4,221.04.
The big comeback was triggered by a U.S. Federal Reserve official who suggested the central bank could abandon its plan to pull away the easy money punch bowl that's been juicing stock prices for years.
The wave of selling over the past month has nearly wiped out the stock market's gains for the year and left all three major indexes flirting with their first "correction" in years.
The NASDAQ briefly hit correction territory on Thursday, signaling a 10% decline from a previous closing high. But it's since bounced back from those levels.
Despite closing off its lows, the Dow did fall 31 points. That means it's closed lower for six days in a row for the first time since August 2013.
Initial weekly jobless claims dropped to the lowest level in more than 14 years, while industrial production climbed 1% in September.
The better economic headlines may have helped boost crude oil, which took a break from its month-long plunge to close over 1% higher.
That was good news for the beaten-down energy sector of the stock market, which was actually the best performer on the day. So was a $5.4-billion U.S. sale of wells by Chesapeake Energy, which surged 17%.
Also, a number of major companies reported quarterly earnings that exceeded expectations. Shares of Delta Air Lines and UnitedHealth rallied on their earnings beats. Delta soothed Ebola jitters by saying it's not seeing a drop in demand due to the deadly virus.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries slipped slightly, raising yields to 2.15% from Wednesday’s 2.09%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were hiked 72 cents to $82.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subsided $4.80 to $1,239.90 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
