Stock markets in Toronto charged out of the gate on Tuesday, taking good vibes from global markets, as worries over third-quarter earnings faded after stronger-than-expected Citigroup earnings and recent encouraging retail sales data from the world's largest economy.
The S&P/TSX composite index soared 131.32 points, or 1.1%, to begin Tuesday at 12,361.28
The Canadian dollar fell 0.45 cents to 101.52 cents U.S.
Bombardier Inc. took another step toward breaking the Boeing-Airbus lock on the narrow body jet market Monday, saying it has begun assembling its rival CSeries jet, and that it is still on course to start flight-testing by year-end, despite concerns that timetable could slip. Bombardier stock advanced four cents to $3.73
It was announced that top Canadian bureaucrat Simon Kennedy, involved in examining a landmark $15.1-billion bid by China's CNOOC Ltd for oil producer Nexen Inc., will take up another government job on Nov. 12, a hint that Ottawa will announce its decision on whether to approve the takeover before then. Nexen shares picked up 22 cents to $25.47
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported this morning that non-resident investors acquired $6.9 billion of Canadian securities in August, favouring debt instruments over equity in contrast to July. Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $1.7 billion, following three straight months of acquisitions.
Elsewhere, the agency said that manufacturing sales shot 1.5% higher to $49.5 billion in August, to highs they haven’t seen since March 2012.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 12.50 points to 1,295.23
All 14 Toronto subgroups moved higher in the day’s first hour, led by gold, shining 2.1% brighter, while materials were 1.7% stronger, global base metals 1.4% mightier.
ON WALLSTREET
Equities opened higher Tuesday, as investors hailed a batch of strong corporate earnings and digested the latest inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial average jumped 105.23 points to 13,529.50
The S&P 500 prospered 9.68 points to 1,449.81, while the tech-rich Nasdaq perked 18.12 points to 3,082.30
Goldman Sachs posted profit and revenue for the third quarter that topped expectations. Shares of the investment bank rose slightly following the news.
Johnson & Johnson logged quarterly earnings that beat analysts' expectations, sending shares higher. Meanwhile Coca-Cola reported earnings per share that were in line with expectations, but revenue was slightly lower than anticipated.
Intel and IBM will report after the close. Overall, companies in the S&P 500 are expected to report third-quarter earnings that are down 0.7% from last year, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Also on the corporate front, Citigroup announced that CEO Vikram Pandit is stepping down. Michael Corbat, who previously served as Citi's CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa, was named as his replacement. Citigroup's President and COO John Havens also resigned. Shares of Citigroup edged lower following the surprising shakeup at the top.
Economically speaking, the September reading of the Consumer Price Index, the government's key metric for inflation, rose 0.6%.
That's higher than the 0.5% increase that economists polled by Briefing.com had been expecting. Compared to a year earlier, prices have risen 2%. Based on this data, the Social Security Administration announced that Social Security recipients will receive a 1.7% cost-of-living increase in 2013.
Industrial production rose 0.4% in September, according to the Federal Reserve. The reading was better than analysts were expecting.
The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury plunged at the outset boosting the yield to 1.71% from Monday’s 1.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained nine cents to $91.94 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices reacquired eight dollars to $1,745.60 U.S. an ounce.
