The Toronto stock market advanced for a third session Monday afternoon, shaking off early losses as financials moved well into positive territory and oil stocks improved despite lower oil prices.
New York share indexes were lower as investors turned cautious ahead of a heavy week of quarterly earnings from financial giants including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. and growing fears that General Motors Corp. could slip into bankruptcy protection.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index put an exclamation point on things, closing 98.50 points ahead at 9,285.62. That added up to a 21% surge and five straight weeks of gains since the spring rally took off March 10, even though some analysts still think the runup has left the market vulnerable to a pullback.
In Toronto, the financial sector moved into positive territory, as Royal Bank rose $1.02 cents to $40.60.
The TSX energy sector revived, as oil prices bounced off early lows well below $50 U.S. a barrel after the International Energy Agency said Friday that world demand this year will likely fall by 2.8% to 83.4 million barrels a day.
Petro-Canada lost 66 cents to $38.97.
French oil giant Total SA is raising its bid for Alberta oilsands player UTS Energy Corp. to $829.8 million or $1.75 per share, from $1.30 per share. UTS stock added a penny to $1.81.
Energy Savings Income Fund units were ahead 36 cents at $12.52 after it disclosed a non-binding agreement to acquire Universal Energy Group. The deal would exchange 0.58 of an Energy Savings unit for each UEG share.
American dollar weakness helped send the TSX gold sector up,as Goldcorp Inc. advanced 65 cents to $36.80
The base metals sector also buoyed the TSX. Teck Cominco Ltd. rose $1.05 cents to $10.99 as the price of copper in New York rose six cents to $2.13 U.S. a pound after earlier hitting a six-month high of $2.14 U.S.
FNX Mining ran ahead 76 cents to $5.95.
The Canadian dollar jumped 0.47 cents to 82.05 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, gainers had the upper hand over losers, 10 to three, led by metals and mining, up 7%, materials and financials gaining 1.8% each.
The three laggards were information technology, off 1.5%, telecoms, giving back 0.5% and consumer staples, down 0.4%.
The TSX Venture Exchange was up 11.89 points to close at 980.86 while the Nasdaq Canada Index gained just more than a point to 614.45
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials average picked up some steam during the afternoon, but still finished 25.57 points to the bad at 8,057.81
The S&P 500 index picked up 2.17 points to 858.73, while the Nasdaq pointed upwards by nearly a point to 1,653.31.
After the close, Goldman Sachs released quarterly results ahead of schedule. The bank earned $3.39 per share on revenue of $9.43 billion U.S., topping forecasts. The company also announced a $5-billion U.S. stock offering and said it was cutting its quarterly dividend.
Aside from major U.S. financial firms, investors will get earnings results this week from key companies in other sectors such as Intel Corp., Johnson & Johnson and General Electric Co.
But there was some dismay as Boeing Co. and Chevron Corp. said the weak economy was hurting their results.
Boeing fell 5.3% to $35.07 U.S. as analysts cut their ratings and estimates for the airline manufacturer after it said it would reduce production of some jetliners next year due. Chevron lost 2.4% to $67.56 U.S. after saying first-quarter earnings will be sharply lower due to falling oil and natural gas prices.
Traders were uneasy about a New York Times report saying the U.S. Treasury has directed General Motors Corp. to lay the groundwork for a potential bankruptcy filing by June 1. GM might be forced to file for bankruptcy if it cannot complete a plan to exchange debt for equity and receiving concessions from the United Auto Workers, according to the report.
Shares of the automaker plunged 16%
A major deal in the health care sector was announced early Monday. Express Scripts agreed to buy the pharmacy benefits manager business of WellPoint for $4.7 billion U.S.
Express shares gained 13%, while WellPoint shares rose 7%.
Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.84% from 2.92% Thursday. Markets were closed for Good Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell $2.19 to settle at $50.05 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for June delivery rose $11.40 to settle at $894.70 U.S. an ounce.
