Equities continued their journey to the stars by noon on Thursday lifted by technology stocks and as Wall Street rebounded on upbeat earnings.
The S&P/TSX Composite had jumped 123.85 points to 21,329.01.
The Canadian dollar improved 0.28 cents to 80.21 cents U.S.
Shopify, which has the largest market capitalization in the Toronto market, rose $41.64, or 3.2%, to $1,331.43 after falling over 20% so far this month, and Lightspeed Commerce gained $1.30, or 3.2%, to $41.92, boosting technology stocks.
WELL Health Technologies rose 50 cents, or 13.1%, leading gains in healthcare stocks, to $4.33, after the company provided preliminary results for the fourth quarter.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 10.96 points, or 1.2%, to 911.83.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with health-care haler 2.1%, information technology, better by 2%, and energy up 1.1%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, dulling 1.2%, materials, sinking 0.9%, and consumer staples off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite bounced on Thursday, a day after dipping into correction territory, as investors rotated back into technology names.
The Dow Jones Industrials screamed higher 382.93 points, or 1.1%, to 35,411.58.
The S&P 500 hiked 57.63 points, or 1.3%, to 4,590.39.
The NASDAQ sprang up 253.56 points, or 1.8%, to 14,593.88.
The NASDAQ, which is home to many of the market’s biggest tech names, ended Wednesday more than 10% below a record set in November, indicating a technical correction.
For the week, the Dow is down about 1.2%. The S&P 500 has lost 1.4% since Monday. The NASDAQ is the biggest loser, down 1.8% this week.
Technology stocks led markets higher on Thursday. Zoom Video added nearly 4%, Microsoft rose 2.5%, Meta Platforms popped nearly 3%, and Tesla was up more than 4%. Streaming giant Netflix rose 1.7% ahead of its quarterly report after the bell on Thursday.
Dow component Travelers posted beats on the top and bottom lines while American Airlines also beat estimates but lowered guidance. Travelers rose 5%.
United Airlines shares rose slightly after the company reported its quarterly results and warned that omicron has dented bookings and will delay its pandemic recovery.
Unemployment data on Thursday signaled the surge in omicron could be hurting the recovery.
Jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 15 totaled 286,000 for the week, their highest level since October. The read was well above the Dow Jones estimate of 225,000 and a substantial gain from the previous week’s 231,000.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys gained strength, lowering yields to 1.84% from Wednesday’s 1.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 69 cents to $87.65 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices retreated $1.40 to $1,841.90 U.S. an ounce.
