Mining and financial stocks continue to lead Toronto's main index higher on Tuesday afternoon. With the gains, Bay Street's market adds to a notable gain from the previous session.
The S&P TSX Composite Index gained 94.22 points, to end the day’s trading at 9.986.15.
Mining stocks gained as copper climbed in Comex trading. First Quantum added 3.3% to $54.61, HudBay was ahead 2.6% at $7.53 and Teck Resources was 2.6% higher at $19.52. Inmet improved 2% to $39.24.
Financials have gained led by a 3.2% spike for Royal Bank, which ran up to $47.97. Bank of Montreal gained 2.7% at $48.18, and CIBC was up 2.5% to $59.94
In other corporate news, Grande Cache Coal Corp. climbed 7.6% to $1.99 after the company lifted its fiscal 2010 sales volume outlook to 1.3 million - 1.5 million tonnes from its prior range of 1.2 million - 1.4 million tonnes.
Bombardier Transportation said that it has signed contracts with the City of Phoenix for the supply and operations and maintenance of an automated people mover at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The stock was down 1.1% to $3.69.
Synergex Corp. was flat at 45 cents after the company said it entered into an agreement to acquire the licensing, production, and distribution business as well as the video and music product pipeline of BrainWorks Entertainment.
Maximizer Software plummeted 10% to 4.5 cents after the company said its second-quarter net loss widened to $420,000 U.S. from $270,000 U.S. in the previous year.
Eldorado Gold was up 3% to $9.91 after the stock said it amended its agreement with Gold Fields Australasia Limited whereby Eldorado would buy 57.9 million shares of Sino Gold Mining Limited in exchange for 27.82 million shares of Eldorado.
Orvana Minerals dropped 4.2% to 69 cents. Kinbauri Gold announced a merger deal with ATW Gold in a deal worth about $43 million. This tops a previous offer made by Orvana worth $33 million.
Economically speaking, Canadian new motor vehicles sales continued to rise in May. Increased truck sales led to a 1.0% rise in the number of new motor vehicles sold in May to 121,348 units. The result was in line with analysts' expectations.
The Canadian dollar gained 1.18 cents to 88.01 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were in the black. Metals and mining stocks climbed 2.6%, financial stocks were ahead 2%, health-care stocks gained 1.2%.
The two laggards were global base metals, down 0.2%, consumer discretionaries off 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange moved higher 7.76 points, to 1,055.39, while the Nasdaq Canada Index slipped 0.07 points to 652.99
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks gained Tuesday at the end of a choppy session in which investors welcomed Goldman Sachs' better-than-expected results but showed caution ahead of all the quarterly reports due in the weeks ahead.
The Dow Jones Industrials average worked its way into positive country by 27.81 points, to end Tuesday at 8,359.49. The S&P 500 index picked up 4.79 points to 905.84. The Nasdaq composite index regained 6.52 points to 1,799.73.
Stocks had rallied Monday after influential banking analyst Meredith Whitney said she was raising her view on Goldman Sachs. On Tuesday, Goldman reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit, setting the stage for a week of reports from the financial sector.
However, Goldman's report failed to rev up markets Tuesday.
JPMorgan Chase reports Thursday and Bank of America and Citigroup report Friday. The sector as a whole is expected to see profits fall more than 50% versus a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters.
S&P 500 earnings are expected to have declined around 36% in the quarter, versus a year ago. However, what the corporations say about the second half of the year and the economic outlook will be critical.
After rallying 40% in three months, stocks have drifted lower over the last month. The second-quarter reporting period could provide the next catalyst for a move in either direction.
Goldman said it earned $3.44 billion U.S., or $4.93 U.S. per share, in the second quarter versus $2.1 billion U.S., or $4.58 U.S. per share, a year ago.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected net income of $1.73 billion U.S. or $3.54 U.S. a share.
Goldman, considered the healthiest of Wall Street banks during the downturn, benefited from strength in its fixed-income and trading businesses.
In other financial sector news, small-business lender CIT Group rallied Tuesday on bets that the strapped company will get government help.
Dow component Johnson & Johnson reported second-quarter earnings of $1.15 U.S. per share versus $1.18 U.S. a year ago. Analysts were expecting $1.11 U.S. per share, on average. J&J shares inched higher.
Dell shares slipped 8% after the company said late Monday that it expects to see a small decline in gross margins, a key measure of profitability. Dell also said it expects to report a slight increase in revenue when its second quarter ends at the end of July.
On the economic front, June retail sales rose a stronger-than-expected 0.6%, the Commerce Department said.
Economists had expected sales to have edged up 0.4%, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Sales excluding autos and auto parts also rose 0.3%, softer than expected, compared to a 0.5% increase in the measure in May. Economists had forecast a gain of 0.5% in June sales, excluding auto purchases.
The producer price index (PPI), a measure of wholesale inflation, surged 1.8% in June after rising 0.2% in May. Economists had expected the index to have risen 1%.
So-called core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, jumped 0.5% in June after falling 0.1% the month before.
Treasury prices lost more ground, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.45%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil slumped 17 cents to $59.35 U.S.
Gold prices were flat at $923 U.S. an ounce.
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