Markets on both sides of the border rallied into positive territory, Toronto helped by telecoms and financial stocks.
Blue chips in New York rallied late Wednesday, supporting the broader market, after a Federal Reserve report on the economy added to hopes that the pace of the slowdown is easing.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index found its way into the black by the closing bell, gaining 14.49 points to 9,246.11.
In Toronto, shares in Canadian National Railways climbed 54 cents to $48.79.
The energy sector was off as demand for gasoline and other fuels continued to slide. The U.S. Energy Department said that crude inventories grew by 5.6 million barrels, or 1.6%, to 366.7 million barrels, which is 16.5% above year-ago levels. That's the highest level since 1990 and more than twice the increase that had been expected.
Suncor Inc. moved down 78 cents to $29.92 and EnCana Corp. gave back $1.29 to $53.18.
The tech sector moved down as Celestica dropped 12 cents to $5.45 and Research In Motion fell $1.77 to $76.56.
The Toronto financial sector was ahead, as CIBC gained 75 cents to $50.95 and Manulife Financial declined 21 cents to $18.99.
The gold sector was flat, as shares in developing gold miner NovaGold Resources Inc. declined 13 cents to $3.17 after the company posted a first-quarter loss of $28.5 million versus year-ago profit of $24.2 million.
Canwest Global Communications Corp. said Tuesday that its Canwest Media Inc. subsidiary has been given another extension on a $30.4-million U.S. interest payment that was due on its debt. The deal gives the company until April 21, the same deadline set by the company's senior lenders, to come up with a solution. Its shares rose two cents to 25 cents.
Sales of new motor vehicles fell 2.2% to 115,187 units in February - entirely the result of falling truck sales.
Statistics Canada reports preliminary data indicate sales rose about 6% in March.
Sales of new trucks (minivans, sport-utility vehicles, light and heavy trucks, vans and buses) were down 5% to 54,834 units in February, while sales of passenger cars rose 0.4% to 60,353 units.
There was a 6.1% gain in sales of overseas-built passenger cars, their largest increase since March 2008, while sales of North American-built passenger cars dropped 3.5%.
Confidence in the global economy rose to an 11-month high as officials stepped up efforts to thaw credit markets, stocks rallied and some banks returned to profit, a Bloomberg survey of users on six continents showed.
The Bloomberg Professional Global Confidence Index climbed to 21.2 in April from 5.95 in March, the biggest increase since the survey began in November 2007. A reading below 50 means that pessimists outnumber optimists.
The Canadian dollar continued its climb, gaining 0.81 cents to 83.19 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, eight were pointed upward. Telecoms led the parade, up 1.4%, financials next, up 1.1%, while metals and mining advanced 0.9%.
The five laggards were weighed down by health-care stocks, off 1.3%, information technology, down 1%, and energy, which eased 0.6%.
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 11 points to 987.94 while the Nasdaq Canada Index faded 0.82 points to 616.15
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials average continued to gain strength, adding 109.44 points to close at 8,029.62
The S&P 500 index finished 10.56 points in the black to 852.06, while the Nasdaq climbed one point to 1,626.80
Economically speaking, the Fed's "beige book" periodic reading on the economy showed that overall activity stayed weak or got worse.
But five of the 12 districts showed a slowdown in the pace of decline and a few more districts showed certain parts of the economy were stabilizing.
U.S. consumer prices posted their first year-over-year decline in more than half a century.
The Consumer Price Index slipped 0.1% in March. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected the CPI to rise 0.1%. The CPI rose 0.4% the prior month.
The core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2% in March, beating expectations of a 0.1% increase. The core CPI also rose 0.2% in February.
For the full year, the CPI declined 0.4% - its first annual decline since August 1955.
Industrial production fell 1.5% in March, after falling a revised 1.5% in February. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought it would drop 0.9%. Capacity utilization fell to 69.3% from 70.3% in the prior month. Economists thought it would fall to 69.6%.
Another report, the Empire State index, improved to negative 14.7 in April from negative 38.2 in March, surprising economists who were looking for a smaller improvement to negative 35.
Chipmaker Intel posted a 55% drop in quarterly profit after U.S. markets closed Tuesday. The results topped Wall Street's estimates, but shares fell 5% Wednesday morning as Intel chose to not issue a formal sales guidance.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company blamed the weak personal computer market for the decline, but said it sees a bottoming of PC sales. Its shares were down 66 cents to $15.35 U.S.
Today, U.S. brokerage and investment manager Charles Schwab says its earnings fell 29% to $218 million U.S. in the first quarter, but results easily beat Wall Street's expectations.
Total revenue is down 15% to $1.11 billion U.S.
U.S. railroad operator CSX Corp. said it expects double-digit declines in shipping volume to continue through the second quarter as demand to ship goods by rail plummets.
CSX reported on Tuesday its first-quarter earnings dropped 30%, as slowdowns in the housing, construction and automotive markets continued but its shares rose $1.77 to $30.16 U.S.
EBay said late Tuesday that it plans to spin off its Skype Internet telephone unit in an initial public offering next year. Shares were little changed Wednesday.
UBS warned that it would post a big quarterly loss and cut almost 9,000 more jobs. Shares fell 2%.
Dow defense and aerospace companies Boeing and United Technologies both gained, boosting the blue-chip averages. Oil services company Exxon Mobil and consumer products companies Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble were the Dow's other big advancers.
Treasury prices dipped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.79% from 2.78% Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 16 cents to settle at $49.25 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for June delivery rose $1.50 to settle at $893.50 U.S. an ounce
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