Toronto stocks remained notably higher on Thursday to erase a good portion of the slide from the last two sessions. Gains in the mining and industrial sectors have led the way.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index grew 208.73 points, or 2%, to 10,664.06.
Mining stocks have rallied as copper jumped more than eight cents a pound. First Quantum added 9.4% to $69.85 and Teck Resources was up 7.2% to $27.13 to lead the way.
Industrials were up, as Canadian Pacific Railway soared 12.8% to $48.84 after the company announced that second-quarter net income rose to $157 million from $155 million last year. Rival Canadian National Railway gained 4% to $52.12.
Goldcorp added 1.9% to $39.29 after the company reported adjusted net earnings of $0.14 U.S. per share, compared to $0.12 U.S. per share a year earlier.
Agnico-Eagle Mines rallied 7% to $60.80 after the company reported second-quarter net income of $1.2 million or $0.01 per share, compared to net income of $8.3 million or $0.06 per share in the same quarter last year.
Barrick Gold Corp. jumped 2.9% to $36.77 after the company reported net income for the second quarter climbed to $492 million U.S. from $485 million U.S. in the prior-year quarter. On a per-share basis, earnings edged up to $0.56 U.S. from $0.55 U.S. in the year-ago quarter.
Oceana Gold advanced 10.2% at 97 cents after the company reported second-quarter earnings of $40.11 million U.S. or $0.21 U.S. per share versus a loss of $19.25 million U.S. or $0.12 U.S. per share in the previous year.
Richmont Mines declined 7.2% to $3.35 after the company reported second quarter net loss of $1.4 million, compared to net earnings of $40,000 last year. Loss per share for the quarter was $0.05. The company specified that the recent quarter loss was primarily due to lower gold sales and higher operating costs.
In other corporate news, Petro-Canada added 4% to $44.42 despite reporting second-quarter net earnings of $77 million or $0.16 per share, compared to $1.5 billion or $3.10 per share last year.
Hemisphere GPS dropped 8.7% to $1.05 after the company reported second quarter net loss of $1.26 million U.S. or $0.02 U.S. per share, compared to net income of $3.17 million U.S. or $0.06 U.S. per share last year.
Tembec gained 3.8% to 55 cents after revealing third-quarter net loss of $38 million or $0.38 per share, compared to a net loss of $27 million or $0.27 per share in the same quarter last year.
Air Canada shares surged 23.5% to $2.00 after the airliner announced it had obtained $1.02 billion in financing.
Mullen Group added 5.3% to $12.29 after the company reported second-quarter net income of $17.8 million or $0.22 per share, compared to $19.9 million or $0.25 in the last-year quarter.
In economic news, Statistics Canada reports the Canadian Industrial Product Index rose 0.7% in June compared with May, while the Raw Materials Price Index increased 6.2%. Both gains were due to a strong increase in petroleum prices.
The Canadian dollar grew 47 cents to 92.23 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All 14 TSX subgroups spent the whole day in the black. Metals and mining were ahead 5.7%, global base metals marched 4.5%, and industrials were ahead 3.9%.
The TSX Venture Exchange added 15.58 points, to 1,147.32, while the Nasdaq Canada Index regained 7.50 points to 743.50.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks surged Thursday, hitting their highest levels in nearly nine months, as investors eyed the latest batch of better-than-expected profits and forecasts and a report that suggested the labor market is starting to stabilize.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 83.74 points to 9,154.46, its highest levels since Nov. 4. The S&P 500 index tacked on 11.60 points to 986.75, also a peak unreached since Nov.4. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite regained 16.54 points, to 1,984.30, a high point not seen since Oct. 1.
Stocks drifted for the first three sessions of this week, as the recent euphoria that lifted markets faded out. The major gauges all gained between 11% and 12% in the previous two weeks as investors welcomed a spate of better-than-expected quarterly results.
But after this week's early volatility, stocks charged ahead Thursday.
Experts pointed to three supporting factors: the drop in the continuing claims portion of the weekly jobless report, the cumulative effect of better profit reports, and lessening fears about a slowdown in Asia and the global economy.
Stocks gains were broad-based Thursday, with 27 of 30 Dow components rising, led by IBM, Chevron, Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola and United Technologies.
Economically speaking, the number of Americans filing unemployment claims for a week or more, a measure known as continuing claims, slipped by more than expected.
According to a Labor Department report, continuing claims dipped to 6.2 million last week, from a revised 6.25 million the previous week, for their lowest level since mid-April and short of forecasts for 6.3 million.
The continuing claims report overshadowed the regular weekly jobless claims report, which showed a bigger-than-expected rise to 584,000. However, that rise was largely related to seasonal issues related to auto plant shutdowns.
Two Dow components reported results Thursday morning.
Oil behemoth Exxon Mobil reported a steep drop in second-quarter income due to weaker demand and falling oil and gas prices. Weaker quarterly earnings missed estimates on weaker revenue that topped estimates.
Dow component Travelers also reported weaker profit that missed forecasts. But the financial company also boosted its full-year earnings forecast. Shares fell 2%.
Among other companies reporting results, telecom Motorola posted higher quarterly earnings that topped forecasts on weaker revenue that missed. The company shipped 14.8 million phones in the quarter, nearly half what it shipped a year ago, but more than what analysts expected. Shares gained 9%.
Shares of Dow component General Electric spiked 8%. Goldman Sachs upgraded it to "buy" from "neutral" after legislators appeared to back down on the question of whether GE should separate itself from its troubled finance unit GE Capital.
A variety of financial shares gained, including Dow components Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and American Express.
Other financial gainers included Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo. Regional banks KeyCorp, Regions Financial and Fifth Third Bancorp advanced as well.
Treasury prices gained some ground, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil gushed ahead $3.59 to $66.70 U.S.
Gold prices were off $8 to $937 U.S. an ounce.
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