Equities in this country rallied a fourth day on Wednesday to the highest level in more than two weeks, as oil climbed to a one-week high and industrial metals advanced.
The S&P/TSX composite index spiked 202.05 points, or 1.5%, to close Wednesday at 13,284.91, for its longest win streak since October.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.31 cents to 72.14 cents U.S.
Encana Corp., jumped 55 cents, or 8.4%, to $7.07, Crew Energy hiked 37 cents, or 9.9%, to $4.11, and Crescent Point Energy Corp. jumped $1.92, or 12.6%, to $17.20, as energy producers enjoyed healthy gains.
Teck Resources surged 47 cents, or 9.3%, to $5.53, and First Quantum Minerals added 88 cents, or 17.2%, to $6.00, to lead an advance in raw-materials producers.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that Gross Domestic Product was unchanged in October, after falling 0.5% in September.
Gains in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction as well as the public sector were offset by declines in manufacturing, utilities and retail trade.
The agency also said retail sales edged up 0.1% in October to $43.4 billion. Sales were up in seven of 11 sub-sectors, representing 59% of retail trade.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange leaped 9.39 points to 511.43
All 13 TSX subgroups remained higher, led by metals and mining stocks, up 8.8%, energy, surging 5.8%, and materials, up 2.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, the last full trading day of the week, led by recovery in oil prices and commodities-related sectors.
The Dow Jones industrial average gathered 185.34 points, or 1.1%, to 17,602.61, with Chevron, Exxon Mobil, 3M and Goldman Sachs among the top advancers.
Weighing on the Dow, Nike closed down nearly 2.4% in afternoon trade after initially rallying. The stock's scheduled two-for-one split is expected to take effect when it reopens Thursday. Nike reported earnings that beat but revenue that missed slightly.
The S&P 500 gained 25.46 points, or 1.3%, to 2,064.43. Energy rallied about 4.2% to lead all 10 S&P 500 sectors higher. However, the sector is still the worst performer in the S&P for the year, down more than 20%
The NASDAQ index jumped 44.82 points to 5,045.93
The Dow remains more than 1% lower for 2015. The S&P 500 recovered to close 1.2% higher in positive territory for the year so far, joining the NASDAQ composite with its year-to-date 6.5% gain.
Freeport-McMoRan closed up 16% to lead materials, the second-best advancer in the S&P 500. Year-to-date, the sector is down nearly 9%, while Freeport is down more than 65% for the year so far.
On the economic parade, durable goods orders were unchanged in November. U.S. personal income rose 0.3%.
In the 12 months through November, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index was up 0.4% after rising 0.2% in October, Reuters said. Excluding food and energy, prices nudged up 0.1% after being unchanged in October. The so-called core PCE price index rose 1.3% in the 12 months through November, for the 11th straight month.
The final University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey for December was 92.6.
New home sales rose 4.3% in November to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 490,000 units, following a downward revision to October's sales pace to 470,000 units. The report came after Tuesday's weak existing home sales numbers.
Wednesday is the last full trading day of the week, as Thursday is a half day for the Christmas Eve holiday. Markets are closed Friday for Christmas Day.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury lost ground, raising yields to 2.26% from Tuesday’s 2.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added $1.70 a barrel to $37.84 U.S.
Gold prices skidded $2.84 to $1,069.59 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
