It was nothing spectacular, but markets in Toronto enjoyed slight but steady progress to close out a muscular month of January, following a mass selloff to end December 2018. Gains Thursday were led mostly by health-care stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 56.05 points to close Thursday and the month of January at 15,540.60, a jump on the month of more than 1,200 points since the calendar year began.
The Canadian dollar inched 0.02 cents higher to 76.10 cents U.S.
As has been the case much of this new year, health-care stocks carried the day, with Canopy Growth gaining 79 cents, or 1.3%, to $63.88, while Bausch Health Companies tacked on 47 cents, or 1.5%, to $32.24.
Among the largest percentage gainers on the TSX was Eldorado Gold Corp, which jumped $1.01, or 26.2%, to $4.87, after its decision to resume mining and heap leaching at Kisladag. Elsewhere in gold, Kirkland Lake Gold vaulted 95 cents, or 2.3%, to $42.08.
Among techs, Shopify screamed higher $7.26, or 3.4%, to $220.88, while Constellation Software triumphed $7.72 to $983.98.
Energy stocks sank below the red line, as Suncor lost 15 cents to $42.37, while Encana dipped 20 cents, or 2.2%, to $9.00.
Among financials, which also slipped, Royal Bank deducted 14 cents to $99.89, while National Bank backtracked five cents to $61.60.
In other resource news, Alberta will ease its oil cut in February and March, earlier than expected, saying on Wednesday that its rare step to limit production had eased a glut of crude.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Thursday that Gross Domestic Product in this country edged down 0.1% in November, partly offsetting an increase of 0.3% in October.
As well, the agency’s industrial product price fell 0.7% in December, mainly due to lower prices for energy and petroleum products.
The Raw Materials Price Index was up 3.8%, driven primarily by prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange rallied 7.52 points, or 1.2%, on the day to 622.72, making for a year-to-date gain of 65 points.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the green, led by health-care, improving 2.7%, gold, stronger by 1.5%, and information technology 1.1% higher.
Only energy, fading 1%, and financials, off 0.2%, missed the party.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose to close out their best January in three decades as strong earnings and a Federal Reserve indicating it will pause rate hikes caused investors to rush back into the market following a vicious December selloff.
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 15.19 points to 24,999/67, despite better-than-expected earnings from a range of companies, including Facebook and General Electric.
The S&P 500 added 23.05 points, or 1%, to 2,704.10. Thursday’s gains helped the S&P 500 notch its best January performance since 1987, having risen 7.9% this month. The broad index also posted its biggest monthly gain since October 2015
Last month, the S&P 500 fell 9.2% and briefly dipped into bear-market territory on an intraday basis on Christmas Eve. Since Dec. 24, however, stocks have been on a tear, with the S&P 500 rising about 14%.
The NASDAQ Composite rocketed 98.66 points, or 1.4%, to 7,281.74, on strong Facebook earnings.
Shares of Facebook surged 10.8% after the company’s quarterly results easily topped expectations. GE shares jumped 11.7% on stronger-than-forecast revenue. These results come during the busiest week of the corporate earnings season.
Not everyone participated in Thursday’s rise, however. Microsoft fell 1.8% after the company reported weaker-than-expected revenue and earnings that barely beat expectations. The tech giant also issued quarterly earnings guidance that was lower than expected.
DowDuPont, another Dow member, fell 9.2% on the back of mixed quarterly results. Tesla shares dipped 0.5% on the back of weaker-than-expected earnings. The company also said its CFO was leaving his post.
The major indexes shot up on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it will be "patient" with raising rates moving forward
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury climbed, lowering yields to 2.64% from Wednesday’s 2.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices docked 23 cents to $54.00 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shone $9.20 brighter to $1,324.70 U.S. an ounce.
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