The Toronto stock market looked set for a strong open as traders continued to react enthusiastically to an aggressive stimulus program from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The S&P/TSX Composite index leaped 127.54 points, or 1%, to end Thursday at 12,360.16
The Canadian dollar grew Friday morning by 0.12 cents to 103.36 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Talisman Energy Inc., which switched CEOs earlier this week, plans to wind down its operations in Peru .It says that despite the company’s success in finding light oil in a property called Block 64, it was unable to build a big enough position there.
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. said Thursday it is launching a strategic review of its Allstream business division, opening up the possibility of a sale of the business. The company said recent changes by Ottawa to allow increased foreign investment in smaller telecoms have created an opportunity to consider a full range of alternatives.
Allstream provides Internet Protocol services such as voice and data to businesses in Canada and parts of the United States and has said growth in the division will be led by such services.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales fell 1.5% to $48.3 billion in July, the third decrease in five months. Declines in transportation equipment were largely responsible for the overall drop. Manufacturers in 11 of 21 industries reported lower sales, representing over 60% of total manufacturing.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange grew 20.24 points to 1,302.89
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were poised to keep climbing Friday, following a huge rally a day earlier that sent all three major indexes to mult-year highs thanks to the Fed's new stimulus plan.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials added 59 points, or 0.4%, to 13,504, about 30 minutes before the opening bell. Futures for the S&P 500 gathered 3.4 points, or 0.2%, to 1,453.80, and for the Nasdaq, futures reacquired 10 points, or 0.4%, to 2,831.
The central bank announced a third round quantitative easing, or QE3, saying it would buy $40 billion U.S. of mortgage-backed bonds each month for however long it deems necessary.
The optimism carried over to the commodities market Friday, with oil prices spiking 1.6% to $99.83 U.S. a barrel.
Gold, which is used as a hedge against inflation, also continued to climb, with prices touching a seven-month high before easing to $1,773.50 U.S. an ounce. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasuries sold-off sharply, pushing the 10-year yield to 1.83% from 1.74% late Thursday.
Retail sales came in higher than expected, rising 0.9%, the U.S. Census Bureau said.
August inflation was in line with what analysts had anticipated, with CPI increasing by 0.6%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
After the opening bell, the Federal Reserve will publish data on industrial production for August, expected to have declined by 0.2%.
The preliminary edition of the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index for September will also be released Friday, along with data on July business inventories from the Census Bureau.
World markets, which had already closed ahead of the Fed, joined the rally Friday. European stocks jumped between 1.5% and 2% in morning trading. Asian markets ended higher, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong surging 2.9% and Japan's Nikkei gaining 1.8%.
