The Toronto stock market registered a solid gain Thursday amid strong bank earnings and an easing of concerns over a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria.
The S&P/TSX composite index jumped 97.51 points to end Thursday at 12,704.73, with strength also coming from the three big telecoms on speculation that U.S. telco Verizon won't be entering the Canadian wireless market.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.39 cents to 94.97 cents U.S.
CIBC posted net earnings of $890 million or $2.16 per diluted share in the most recent period while revenue rose to $3.26 billion from $3.15 billion. Adjusted net income was $943 million or $2.29 per share diluted, 14 cents ahead of estimates and its shares gained $2.14 to $82.58.
Royal Bank shares rose 79 cents to $65.28 as the bank reported record net income of $2.3 billion for the third quarter, an increase of 3% from a year ago. Profit was $1.48 a share ex-items, beating expectations of $1.38. The bank also raised its dividend 6% to 67 cents a share.
TD Bank's quarterly net income was $1.53 billion or $1.58 per diluted share, compared with $1.7 billion or $1.78 per share a year ago amid losses on the insurance side of the business.
However, earnings ex-items were $1.65 a share against estimates of $1.55 a share and the bank increased its quarterly dividend by four cents, or five per cent, to 85 cents per share. TD shares advanced $2.36 to $89.95.
On the TSX, the telecom sector was the biggest percentage gainer, with Telus Corp. ahead 80 cents to $33.08 and Rogers Communications rising $1.22 to $42.00 and BCE Inc. ran up $1.03 to $43.51.
Canadian telcos advanced as Britain's Vodafone PLC confirmed that it was talking to Verizon Communications about selling its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless for as much as $130 billion.
That raised speculation that Verizon would not be interested in entering the possible purchase of at least one of the country's smaller wireless players.
Verizon has said it has had discussions but called it just an exploratory exercise.
Most of the resource sectors were in the red but the gold sector shed early gains to move up as gold prices also started to back off following gains earlier in the week.
Barrick Gold improved by 40 cents to $20.66.
The base metals sector declined while December copper gave back five cents to $3.26 U.S. a pound. HudBay Minerals dropped 12 cents to $7.01.
Oil prices declined after running up about 4% in the previous two sessions on supply disruption concerns. The energy sector was off and Cenovus Energy shed 25 cents to $30.61.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported this morning that its raw materials price index gained 4.2% last month, higher prices for crude oil the main reason.
The agency’s Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.3% in July, mainly because of higher prices for petroleum and coal products as well as motor vehicles and other transport equipment.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange ended Thursday ahead 7.97 points to 941.51
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive by the close, led by telecoms, up 2.1%, financials, gaining 1.4%, and health-care, haler by 1.1%.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by metals and mining stocks, down 1.3%, while global base metals and energy lost 0.6% each.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks advanced as investors weighed stronger economic data against the prospect of the Federal Reserve scaling back its bond purchase program as soon as next month.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved higher 16.44 points to 14,841
The S&P 500 index gained 4.34 points to 1,639.30. The NASDAQ gained 26.95 points to 3,620.30
Shares of Vodafone jumped after the British mobile phone company confirmed it was in talks to sell its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to joint-venture partner Verizon Communications. Vodafone was the best-performing stock in the NASDAQ-100, while Verizon was the biggest winner in the Dow and one of the top performers in the S&P 500.
Shares of Guess climbed after the clothing retailer most famous for its jeans beat earnings forecasts and also raised its guidance for the year. The positive results were a break in the recent stream of disappointing results from retailers.
Zillow shares were also on the move up, nearing $100 U.S. a share, thanks to the completion of its acquisition of New York real estate website StreetEasy. A drop in mortgage rates for the first time in five weeks was also likely helping the stock.
Economically speaking, the U.S.’s second-quarter gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of economic growth -- rose at a 2.5% annualized pace, according to a revised estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That's up from a previous estimate of 1.7% and better than what economists were expecting.
A drop in jobless claims was another positive economic sign. Claims fell last week to 331,000, just slightly above what analysts were expecting.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.75% from Wednesday’s 2.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost $1.72 to $108.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $10.40 to $1,408.40 U.S. an ounce.
