The Toronto stock market rolled higher Thursday as the latest jobs data from the U.S. showed a slight gain and oil prices also improved.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended Thursday ahead 88.21 points to 12,447.68
The Canadian dollar gained 0.75 cents to 101.99 cents U.S.
BMO and UBS upgraded their ratings on Enbridge Inc. after the pipeline company boosted its Earnings per Share-growth target two percentage points to at least 12% at its Investor Day conference Wednesday. BMO upgraded to outperform, while UBS hiked to buy. Enbridge shares grew 69 cents to $40.08.
Argent Energy Trust has agreed to buy producing petroleum properties in Texas and Southern Oklahoma for $132.5 million U.S. To help fund the purchase, Argent said it plans to sell 11 million units at $10 each, for proceeds of $110 million. Argent units faded 47 cents each, or 4.4%, to $10.12.
TD bumped up its target price on Air Canada by $1, to $3, citing "several" positive developments at the airline, including a favorable arbitration ruling Wednesday in its dispute with regional partner Chorus Aviation, parent of Jazz Air. TD also said Air Canada's
September traffic results, released late Wednesday, were strong. The carrier’s shares got seven cents worth of lift, or 5%, to $1.48.
Whitecap Resources said it has achieved record production of 16,900 barrels of oil equivalent a day for September, up 25% from the second quarter and up 153% from a year earlier. Whitecap stock shot up 49 cents, or 6.7%, to $7.84.
Bankers Petroleum said third-quarter average production from the Patos-Marinza oilfield in Albania was 15,616 barrels of oil a day, up 10% from the second quarter. Oil sales averaged 15,715 barrels a day, up 11% from the second quarter. Bankers acquired 15 cents, or 4.8%, to $3.25.
Sulliden Gold said that, following shareholder input, it won't proceed with a milestone bonus plan first outlined in early September. Sulliden careened 14 cents higher, or 15.1%, to $1.07.
On the economic watch, the pace of purchasing activity in the Canadian economy slowed in September, according to Ivey Purchasing Managers Index data released today, but still beat expectations.
The data showed the seasonally-adjusted index slipped to 60.4 in September from 62.5 in August. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 59. The Ivey PMI is published out of a think-tank based in London, Ontario’s Western University.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange improved 15.63 points to 1,340.85
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher on the day. Gold shone 1.6% brighter, while materials gained 1.5%, and the metals and mining group grew 1.2%.
The two laggards were real-estate, off 0.4%, and information technology, down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Bank stocks led markets higher Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi reinforced his central bank's commitment to its new bond-buying plan.
The Dow Jones Industrial average prospered 80.75 points to close at 13,575.40
The S&P 500 took on 14.23 points to 1,461.40, while the tech-rich Nasdaq gained 14.23 points to 3,149.46
Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley all surged more than 2%.
Investors grew more bullish on the banking sector after Moody's said Regions Financial and Zions Bancorp, two large regional banks, were being reviewed for potential upgrades.
Shares of Hewlett-Packard tumbled after falling 13% Wednesday on a disappointing 2013 earnings outlook.
After an initial 2% gain, Facebook shares ultimately dipped 0.2% after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that as of Thursday morning, there are more than one billion people actively 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.
Wall Street trading desks were also abuzz with talk of Wednesday night's presidential debate. Some traders said investors appeared energized by what they saw as a win by Republican hopeful Mitt Romney, who some deem more market-friendly.
The apparent results of the debate fueled a drop in hospital stocks Thursday, as Romney talked about repealing President Obama's healthcare plan. Tenet Healthcare, HCA Holdings and Health Management Associates all traded down more than 3%, while health insurers Cigna, UnitedHealth Group and Humana were all up more than 1%.
Investors also kept a wary eye on 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 domestic 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 Federal Reserve released minutes from its most recent policy-making meeting, in which it announced the latest round of quantitative easing, or QE3. The minutes didn't persuade investors one way or another.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slid, raising yields to 1.66% from Wednesday’s 1.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices leaped $3.45 to $91.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices zoomed $13.40 to $1,793.20 U.S. an ounce.
