Markets in Toronto took in the positive air from south of the border, and broke a losing streak with a vengeance, on advances in resource and industrial stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite leaped 200.44 points, or 1%, to close Wednesday at 15,599.68, breaking a string of five straight losing sessions.
The Canadian dollar docked 0.17 cents at 74.96 cents U.S.
In the materials group – the best performing group -- First Quantum Minerals jumped $1.13, or 8.2%, to $14.95 and Teck Resources advanced $1.53, or 5.8%, to $28.08 as copper prices hit a more than one-week high.
Industrials were next down the ladder, as Bombardier leaped 10 cents, or 4.4%, to $2.40, and Canadian National Railways surged $2.44, or 2.6%, to $94.80.
Financials chugged higher, with Manulife Financial Corp up 61 cents, or 2.6%, to $24.34, and Scotiabank hiked $1.71, or 2.2%, to $78.75.
National Bank of Canada gained 98 cents, or 1.7%, to $57.66 after reporting profit that handily beat estimates.
Only telecoms held out against the good times, with BCE falling 12 cents to $57.82 and TELUS Corporation handing back a penny to $43.21.
As expected, the Bank of Canada maintained an overnight rate target at 0.5%. The central bank also announced that the bank rate is correspondingly 0.75% and the deposit rate is 0.25%
Elsewhere on the economic calendar, the seasonally-adjusted Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index registered 54.7 last month, up from 53.5 in January, signaling the strongest improvement in business conditions since November 2014.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange also moved into the green 4.84 points to 822.06
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups remained positive, with materials muscling up 2.3%, industrials up 2.1%, and financials better by
1.6%.
The lone laggard was in telecoms, down 0.03%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities surged to all-time highs Wednesday, the major indexes posting their best day of the year, on the back of President Donald Trump's speech to Congress.
The Dow Jones Industrials soared 303.31 points, or 1.5%, to 21,115.55, with JPMorgan Chase leading advancers and Wal-Mart and Intel as the only decliners. The 30-stock index first closed above 20,000 on Jan. 25.
The S&P 500 solidified 32.32 points, or 1.4%, to 2,395.96, with financials leading 10 sectors higher and utilities the only laggard. The index closed above 2,300 for the first time on Feb. 9.
The NASDAQ added 78.59 points, or 1.4%, to 5,904.03
Trump's speech, which was delivered Tuesday night, was widely praised for its positive tone but lacked specifics about tax reform and deregulation, two key components of the market's post-election rally.
Investors also paid close attention to key economic data, as the probability of the Federal Reserve raising rates surged.
Personal income rose 0.4% in January, topping expectations, while consumer spending slowed. However, the personal consumption expenditures price index jumped 1.9% in the 12 months through January, putting inflation very close to the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.
Construction spending fell 1% in January, well below expectations, but the February Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index rose to 57.7, expanding on January's 56.0 reading.
The Fed's Beige Book was also released Wednesday, and it showed that U.S. businesses remained generally optimistic but less so than in the previous report.
Market expectations for a rate hike this month almost doubled to around 70%, according to experts.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped sharply raising yields to 2.45% from Tuesday’s 2.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 26 cents to $53.75 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $3.90 to $1,250.00 U.S. an ounce.
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