Stocks in Toronto traded higher Monday, with Material stocks leading the pack while crude prices gained ground and investors accessed concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The S&P/TSX Composite was up 23.10 points at 21,149.00.
The Canadian dollar was off 0.38 cents at 78.19 cents U.S.
Canada recorded its third consecutive current-account surplus in the third quarter, the first time this has occurred in 13 years, since ahead of the 2008-09 financial crisis and global recession.
The country's current account, or the broadest indicator of Canada's trading and investing relationship with other nations, recorded a surplus of 1.37 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of US$1.07 billion, in the third quarter of 2021, Statistics Canada said Monday. Market expectations were for a C$4.4 billion surplus, according to economists at CIBC Capital Markets.
The Industrial Product Price Index increased 1.3% month over month in October and 16.7% year over year.
Raw Materials Price Index was up 4.8% on a monthly basis in October and 38.4% year over year.
In corporate news, Vermilion Energy Inc. says it has signed a deal to increase its stake in the Corrib natural gas project off the coast of Ireland.
Under an agreement with Equinor ASA, the Calgary-based company says it will pay $556 million for Equinor Energy Ireland Ltd., which owns a 36.5 per cent stake in Corrib.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 10.21 points at 954.26.
Nine of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the green Monday with Materials issues up 1.27 percent, Energy stocks ahead 1.25 percent and Consumer Staples issues up 0.61 percent
On the downside -- Health-care issues faded 2.14 percent, Financial stocks were down 0.55 percent and Consumer Discretionary issues were off 0.19 percent.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks bounced back on Monday, following Friday’s big sell-off, after U.S President Joe Biden said that there is no need for Covid omicron lockdowns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 236.6 points to 35,135.94. The S&P 500 added 1.3% to 4,655.27, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite rose 1.9% to 15,782.83. The small-cap benchmark Russell 2000, full of the most economically sensitive stocks, fell 0.2% to 2,241.98.
Morderna (MRNA) shares surged 11.8% as the drugmaker insisted it could develop a new vaccine capable of combating the new Omicron variant early in the new year.
Twitter (TWTR) shares finished down 2.8% following the resignation of co-founder Jack Dorsey as CEO of the micro-blogging website.
Dorsey will remain on the board until at least 2022, the company said, with Bret Taylor becoming independent chairman. Chief technology officer Parag Agrawal was named as his replacement.
US oil prices settled up 2.6%, or nearly $2, at $69.95 per barrel
Spot gold dipped 0.58% to $1,784.82 per ounce.
Treasury bond yields, which fell Friday as investors were gunning for safety, reversed course and rose Monday. The 10-year US government bond yielded 1.52%.
