Toronto stocks continued their march upward, as many of the bad vibes had evaporated from earnings in the United States and economic tidings offshore.
The S&P/TSX composite index soared 145.28 points, or 1.2%, to approach noon Tuesday at 12,375.24
The Canadian dollar fell 0.49 cents to 101.48 cents U.S.
Birchcliff Energy said the Phase III expansion of its Pouce Coupe South gas plant has started processing gas about one month ahead of schedule. Current production is now a record of about 25,500 barrels of oil equivalent a day, and it expects to exceed its 2012 exit guidance. Stocks leaped 5.8% to $8.09
BMO started coverage of Gildan Activewear at outperform, saying the company is well positioned to leverage its competitive strength given new manufacturing capacity that's coming on line.
Separately, Gildan responded to a lawsuit filed against it last week that alleged trademark infringement and unfair competition related to a shipment of product that was incorrectly branded. Gildan said it's conducting an internal review of the matter. The stock zoomed 3.1% to $33.47.
Inmet said Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.'s directors' circular in reponse to Inmet's takeover proposal doesn't provide any new information that would cause Inmet to change its offer. Inmet also said that, since the outcome of its offer isn't material to the development of its Cobre Panama project, it's "prepared to let the offer expire." Inmet mining jumped 2.1% to $47.38, while Petaquilla was flat at 62 cents.
Colossus said the first underground drill holes at its 75%-owned Serra Pelada gold-platinum-palladium project returned better-than-expected widths and grades and surface drilling encountered more high grades. Colossus climbed 3.5% to $5.38.
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 acquisition.
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 remained positive by 14.26 points to 1,296.99
All 14 Toronto subgroups were still higher by noon, led by gold, shining 2.2% brighter, while the metals and mining sector and its cousin in the global base metal sector were each 2.1% mightier.
ON WALLSTREET
Equities advanced Tuesday, as investors welcomed a batch of strong corporate earnings and digested the latest inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial average jumped 116.70 points to 13,540.90
The S&P 500 climbed 13.32 points to 1,453.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq perked 34.37 points to 3,098.55
A big batch of better-than-expected earnings was driving the gains.
Goldman Sachs posted profit and revenue statements 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, also sending shares higher.
Mattel posted a profit that exceeded forecasts, as revenue rose for the first time since last year. UnitedHealth shares climbed after the insurance giant delivered robust third-quarter earnings and raised its full-year outlook.
Intel and IBM shares were also higher, as the two will report after the close.
But stealing the spotlight on the corporate front was Citigroup's unexpected announcement. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit announced he 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 rose following the surprising shakeup at the top.
Shares of Murphy Oil were sharply higher after the company said it split into two separate companies, separating its exploration and production operations from its retail business of selling gasoline.
Coca Cola shares were down slightly after the company missed revenue forecasts.
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 dropped 14 cents to $91.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were up $7.80 to $1,745.40 U.S. an ounce.
