Toronto's main stock index opened a mite higher on Tuesday, following its U.S. and European counterparts and helped by firmer commodity prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index picked up 39.07 points to 11,946.96 in the first hour of trading.
The Canadian dollar reacquired 20 cents to 97.59 cents U.S.
Stocks to watch this morning in Canada include Ivanhoe Mines, being eyed by Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto as a buyout target. Reportedly, an independent arbitrator had cleared the way for it to bid for Ivanhoe but said it had no current intention of making an offer.
Meantime, oil sands producer Connacher Oil & Gas Ltd. finds investors are turning up the pressure on the company to begin a formal sales process.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 3.67 points to 1,494.59, while the Nasdaq Canada index recovered 2.10 points to 384.70
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher at the outset. Energy stocks soared 1%, while gold and global base metals marched ahead 0.5% each.
The five laggards were weighed by metals and mining issues, off 1.2%, while telecoms suffered 0.3% and consumer discretionaries sank 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks moved firmly higher Tuesday, rebounding from the previous day's selloff as investors wait to hear what the Federal Reserve will say at the end of its policy-making meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials tacked on 90.21 points early on to 12,111.60.
The S&P 500 went up again 12.49 points, to 1,248.96, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 18.98 points to 2,631.24.
Financial and energy stocks were leading the advance. Shares of Bank Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase were all up between 1% and 5%. Marathon Oil, Murphy Oil, Denbury Resources, and Chevron were up between 2% and 4%.
Investors continued to keep a wary eye on Europe's debt crisis, but welcomed a lack of bad news out of the region on Tuesday.
With euro-zone worries simmering, investors will turn their attention to the Fed meeting later Tuesday, and are anxious to hear if the central bank has anything else up its sleeve to help the economy.
Tuesday's gains were solid despite gloomy news from the retail sector. Best Buy shares took a hit on earnings that fell short of expectations, while a government report showed that retail sales rose at a much smaller pace in November than economists were expecting.
U.S. stocks tumbled in a broad sell-off Monday, amid growing investor doubt that Europe's debt crisis will be resolved, and a sales warning from chipmaker Intel.
Former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine will be back to testify before Congress Tuesday, this time flanked by two former colleagues from the brokerage's parent company, MF Global Holdings: Chief operating officer Bradley Abelow and chief financial officer Henri Steenkamp.
Shares of electronics retailer Best Buy got slammed after the company reported earnings that fell far short of forecasts.
Intel warned that it will badly miss its sales forecast for the current quarter on Monday, because of the worldwide hard drive shortage caused by massive floods in Thailand. Shares of Intel dropped nearly 4% in trading Monday, and continued to slip on Tuesday.
Netflix's continued to rise, on chatter that the company could be acquired by Verizon. On Monday, a spokesman for Netflix said the company doesn't comment on speculation.
On the economic front, retail sales for the month of November rose 0.2%, which was much lower than expected, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. But the disappointing report had little impact on futures.
Retail sales were expected to have increased by 0.6%, after a 0.5% increase the month prior.
Investors will also be awaiting news from the Federal Reserve, which is expected to hold interest rates at 0.25% for December.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged, pushing the yield up to 2.05%, from 2.01% late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for January delivery grew $2.59 to $100.36 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery rose $7.50 to $1,675.70 U.S. an ounce.
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