The Toronto Stock Exchange saw some gains early Friday with oil prices surging and data showing a lower inflation rate last month.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index opened up 9.72 Friday points to 12,163.41
The Canadian dollar regained 0.41 cents, to 100.86 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch this morning, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, which is fighting a proxy battle with its biggest shareholder, said that first-quarter profits more than quadrupled and that a key efficiency measure strengthened.
Encana Corp said Japan's Toyota Tsusho Corp will buy a royalty interest in its southern Alberta natural gas field for $602 million as depressed dry gas prices force the company to cut spending or look for partners.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said the annual inflation rate fell to 1.9% in March from 2.6% in February, marking the lowest level since September 2010. This would appear to be close to ideal for the Bank of Canada, which aims for overall inflation of 2%.
The nation’s number-crunchers also sounded a cheery note, saying its composite leading index rose 0.4% in March, slightly less than the 0.7% rise in February, extending the index’s roll to nine straight months. Of the 10 components measured by the index, eight were stronger.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange perked 6.31 points to 1,403.08, while the Nasdaq Canada index added 1.88 points to 417.32
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups began the day upward. Health-care issues surged 0.5%, consumer staples 0.4%, and consumer discretionaries gained 0.3%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by information technology, down 0.4%, metals and mining, off 0.3%, and gold, down 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks advanced Friday, as investors welcomed positive news out of Europe and another round of strong earnings from Corporate America.
The Dow Jones Industrials charged out of the gates ahead 80.07 points to 13,044.17
The S&P 500 reacquired 6.57 points to 1,383.49, and the Nasdaq tacked on 18.67 points to 3,026.23
Encouraging news came in before the opening bell from Germany, where a reading on business confidence unexpectedly increased for the sixth straight month. The ripple effect helped turn around European markets, and give a boost to the euro and oil prices.
Friday is otherwise a light day on the economic calendar, with no major U.S. reports due, but investors will continue to wade through first-quarter results from several large firms.
Microsoft shares surged more than 4%, leading the gains on the Dow and the Nasdaq. The company beat earnings expectations late Thursday, with sales growth of 6% thanks to its Windows and Office products.
McDonalds and General Electric were also big gainers, with both companies reporting earnings that topped analyst estimates.
Quarterly earnings this round have been surprisingly strong. Of the 113 companies in the S&P 500 that had reported quarterly results as of early Friday, 92 beat expectations, while 12 matched and just nine came up short, according to experts. Analysts are expecting overall S&P 500 first-quarter earnings to climb 6%, with revenues edging up 5%.
McDonald's shares gained after the fast-food giant reported earnings and revenue in line with expectations.
Technology manufacturer Honeywell beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, and shares climbed.
Microsoft shares gained after the company reported earnings Thursday that beat analyst estimates.
Shares of processor developer AMD, which also beat expectations Thursday, rose.
Flash memory producer SanDisk's stock fell sharply after the company missed earnings expectations in reporting its quarterly results Thursday and said it expected a similarly weak performance in the current quarter.
US Airways shared dipped after the airline said it has reached agreement with three American Airlines unions for support of a possible merger.
Anxieties remain, however, about the European crisis and the question of whether large economies such as Spain and Italy may be drifting towards crisis.
Over the past few months, the European Central Bank has pulled out all the stops to prevent a credit crunch by providing banks with €1 trillion in ultra-low cost financing. But the potency of the ECB's two long-term refinancing operations, or LTROs, appears to be fading, as yields on Spanish and Italian bonds have shot higher in recent weeks.
Investors are hopeful that global finance officials will announce new resources for the International Monetary Fund during the IMF and World Bank's spring meeting in Washington.
Analysts with the Eurasia Group expect the IMF to announce $400 billion U.S. in additional funding at the conclusion of the meeting this weekend.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slipped a mite, lifting the yield to 1.98% from Thursday’s 1.95%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for May delivery boosted $1.64 to $103.91 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery fell $1.80 to $1,638.80 U.S. an ounce.
