Markets in Toronto jumped at the open Thursday, after the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting and as upbeat U.S. economic data in the previous session helped keep fears of global slowdown at bay.
The S&P/TSX composite index began Thursday ahead 60.54 points to 12,420.01
The Canadian dollar gained 0.36 cents to 101.60 cents U.S.
Network equipment maker Sandvine Corporation reported a third-quarter loss as margins tightened. Sandvine shares eked up a penny to $1.21
Air Canada carried record levels of passengers for the month September. The airline’s stock garnered six cents to $1.47
Husky Energy Inc. reached agreement with the United Steelworkers union, after a four-month strike, for members to return to work at the 155,000 barrel-per-day Lima, Ohio, refinery starting Oct. 8, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. As to how the pact affected Husky stock, prices grew a cent to $27.41
Economic data includes the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index report, due out later this morning.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange improved 8.46 points to 1,333.68
All but one of 14 Toronto subgroups were up at the outset, led by gold, gaining 1.2%, materials, strengthening 0.9%, and the metals and mining group, picking up 0.8%.
Consumer staples proved the lone laggard, falling 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks in the U.S. opened higher Thursday as investors digested two reports on the U.S. labour market and the European Central Bank's president reiterated its commitment to its new bond buying plan.
The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 52.24 points to begin the session at 13,546.80
The S&P 500 took on 5.87 points to 1,456.86, while the tech-rich Nasdaq gained 3.89 points to 3,139.12
Hewlett-Packard stock edged down 4%, after falling 13% Wednesday, on a gloomy earnings outlook for next calendar year.
Facebook shares rose nearly 2% after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that as of Thursday morning, there were more than one billion active users of the social network each month.
Target shares rose more than 1% after the retailer reported net retail sales in a recent five-week period were $6 billion U.S., about 2% higher than the same time last year.
Investors will also be keeping a wary eye on ECB boss Mario Draghi, who recently said he'd do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. Draghi stood by that decision during a talk this morning.
ECB officials kept rates at 0.75% when they met in Slovenia Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5%, where it's been since early 2009.
In the economic docket, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of people filing for first-time unemployment claims rose by 4,000 to 367,000 for the week ended Sept. 29. That was slightly higher than expected.
Ahead of that report, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said U.S.-based employers announced plans to cut 33,816 jobs in September, down 71% from a year earlier.
This afternoon, the U.S. Federal Reserve will release minutes for its most recent policy making meeting, in which it announced the latest round of quantitative easing or QE3. The report could shed light on the Fed's open-ended program of buying $40 billion U.S. in mortgage debt every month.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slid, raising yields to 1.64% from Wednesday’s 1.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 91 cents to $89.03 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices leaped $9.20 to $1,788.30 U.S. an ounce.
