The Toronto stock market registered a solid gain Thursday on hopes that a solution could be at hand to the debt impasse in Washington that would reopen the U.S. government and head off a possible default.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 153.80, or 1.2%, to greet noon at 12,884.13
The Canadian dollar regained 0.13 cents to 96.34 cents U.S.
Base metal stocks advanced with December copper up one cent at $3.23 U.S. a pound. Worries about the economic fallout from the Washington budget impasse have impacted commodity prices sharply, with copper losing six cents Wednesday. Teck Resources climbed 28 cents to $26.70.
The energy sector gained as Canadian Natural Resources advanced 96 cents to $32.99.
The industrials component ran up and Canadian National Railways rose $1.84 to $109.78.
Financials gained as Royal Bank rose 73 cents to $67.13.
On the corporate front, telecom giant Rogers Communications is trying to determine what caused a massive outage over several hours Wednesday night. Both wireless voice and text messaging services were down.
Rogers has about 10 million wireless customers across Canada. Rogers shares gained 56 cents to $45.74.
Space technology company Com Dev International Ltd. says it has received its largest commercial award ever, a contract "in excess of $65 million" to supply components for a network of global communications satellite.
The Cambridge, Ont.,-based company says it will supply C, Ku-band and Ka-band multiplexers, switches and microwave components for a number of satellites that will be part of the satellite network. Its shares were ahead 18 cents to $4.24.
On things economic, Statistics Canada reported housing prices were higher 0.1% in August, following a 0.2% increase in July.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange poked ahead 0.82 points to 933.86
All 14 Toronto subgroups were higher by midday, led by energy, powering ahead 1.7%, health-care, 1.6% to the good, and metals and mining, up 1.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rallied Thursday morning on reports that lawmakers could be close to striking a short-term deal that would keep the United States from defaulting on its debt.
The Dow spiked 229.94 points, or 1.6%, to pause for noon ET at 15,032.90
The S&P 500 index gained 28.33 points to 1,684.73. The NASDAQ rocketed back up 71.52 points to 3,749.29
Shares of the largest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup andGoldman Sachs, rose more than 1%. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo will report their latest quarterly earnings on Friday morning.
Several large technology stocks popped Thursday, including Netflix, eBay, Facebook, Priceline and Tesla. Many of these companies, which are among the hottest stocks of the year, had been hit hard in the past few days as the broader market sold off.
Shares of Citrix Systems sank more than 10%, after the software company released its third-quarter results early, saying it expected earnings and revenue to come in lower than previously anticipated.
House Republican members and party leadership sources told the media that leaders are working on a proposal to raise the debt ceiling temporarily, while the government would remain partially shut down.
Investors have been growing increasingly concerned as October 17th, a key deadline to increase the debt ceiling, comes closer. Should politicians fail to raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. is likely to default on some of its debt or could be forced to choose between interest payments on the debt and paying for key government services.
Investors saw one sign that should make them uneasy about the jobs market in the U.S., but they seemed content to ignore it Thursday.
The U.S. Labor Department's weekly report on initial jobless claims showed a sharp jump in claims over the previous week. The government did not release its monthly jobs report last week due to the shutdown.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury slumped, raising yields to 2.72% from Wednesday’s 2.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices climbed $1.55 to $103.16 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sagged $7.50 to $1,299.70 U.S. an ounce.
