Energy shares led Canadian stocks higher on Thursday, as comments by Mario Draghi fuelled speculation that his European Central Bank may bolster its stimulus programs as early as March.
The S&P/TSX composite index advanced 192.75 points, or 1.6%, to close Thursday at 12,035.86
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.11 cents to 70.01 cents U.S.
Energy companies gained handsomely after four days of declines. Penn West Petroleum Ltd. jumped 11 cents, or 14.5%, to 87 cents, while Crew Energy hiked 30 cents, or 9.8%, to $3.37, and Veresen Inc. added 39 cents, or 5.3%, to $7.69. The gains for both were the most in almost a month.
Shares of consumer-staples jumped, led by gains of $1.54, or 2.5%, to $63.83 for Loblaw Companies Ltd. and $1.89 gains, or 3.2%, for Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., which finished at $60.24.
Industrials stocks fell for a third straight day. Bombardier Inc. tumbled 11 cents, or 9.2% to $1.09, after United Continental Holdings Inc. said it would buy Boeing Co.’s smallest jetliners, snubbing Bombardier’s C Series.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., which is attempting to acquire Norfolk Southern Corp., sank $1.33, or 0.9%, to $149.84, after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates as revenue fell amid declines in cargo including crude, metals and minerals.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that those drawing regular employment insurance premiums hiked 3,200, or 0.6%, in
November to 544,200.
The agency added that, on a year-over-year basis, the total number of EI beneficiaries was up 45,800 or 9.2%, the largest increase since February 2010. About two-thirds of this increase was in Alberta.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 1.31 points to 475.05.
Seven of the 13 TSX subgroups remained in positive territory, with energy better by 5.3%, utilities improving 2.2%, and financials up 1.6%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by gold, down 0.9%, materials, weakening 0.8%, and industrials off 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday, extending Wednesday's late-session recovery, helped by some recovery in oil prices and comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that raised expectations of more stimulus in the euro-zone.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 115.94 points to finish at 15,882.68, after earlier gaining more than 250 points, with Verizon leading advancers and UnitedHealth the greatest decliner.
The S&P 500 gained 14.13 points to 1,873.46, with energy leading nine sectors higher and utilities the only decliner.
The NASDAQ index fought its way out of negative country to edge forward 0.37 points and finish at 4,472.06. However, Netflix dipped more than 4% in afternoon trade, while Apple also turned lower.
As of afternoon trade Thursday, the major U.S. indexes were down about 8% or more for the year so far and more than 10% below their 52-week intraday highs, in correction territory.
Data released late Wednesday by the American Petroleum Institute showed crude inventories rose by 4.6 million barrels, while the EIA reported commercial crude inventories rose by about four million barrels. Crude inventories climbed to the highest level since 1990.
Elsewhere on the data front, weekly jobless claims came in at 293,000, a six-month high. The January Philadelphia Fed index showed minus 3.5.
Draghi expressed the view that downside risks have increased again and the central bank needs to review, possibly reconsider policy stance at the next meeting. Draghi also said the central bank has the power, willingness and determination to act, noting it has plenty of instruments.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell back, raising yields to 2.03% from Wednesday’s 1.99%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices spiked $1.42 a barrel to $29.77 U.S.
Gold prices reversed course and climbed 32 cents to $1,101.24 U.S. an ounce.
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