Bay Street stocks closed notably higher Wednesday. Strength in the technology and mining sectors are leading the market.
Within minutes of Wednesday’s closing bell, the S&P TSX Composite index was up 113.36 points, or a full percentage point, to 11,526.90.
Technology stocks were up, as MDA rallied 3.7% to $37.71, Celestica added 2.8% to $10.06 and Open Text climbed 2.1% to $41.56.
Mining stocks gained ground, off the backs of stocks like Teck Resources, up 3.8% to $34.37, and Inmet, ahead 2.8% at $65.55.
On the downside, gold stocks lost as the precious metal turned lower on the Comex. Goldcorp dropped 1.2% to $43.89 despite the fact that it was boosted to "overweight" from "neutral" by JP Morgan.
Barrick Gold dropped 0.9% to $40.97, despite also being upgraded to "overweight" from "neutral" at JP Morgan. Earlier, the company priced an aggregate of $1.25 billion debt securities that consist of $400 million of 4.95% notes due 2020 and $850 million of 5.95% notes due 2039.
In corporate news, Aquiline Resources soared 20.7% at $6.60 after reaching a deal to be acquired by Pan American Silver in a stock deal worth about $626 million. Pan American Silver dropped 6.1% to $25.09.
Plutonic Power Corp. lost 7.5% to $3.33 after announcing a bought deal to sell 21 million common shares at a price of $3.35 per common share for gross proceeds of $70.35 million.
Thomson Reuters Corp. slipped 1.2% to $34.53 after the company said it has made an offer to buy privately-held Breakingviews.
Glendale International surged 8.2% to 53 cents after the company reported for the third quarter a net loss of $2.1 million or $0.23 per share, narrower than $2.23 million or $0.24 per share posted a year ago.
Economically speaking, Canadian new motor vehicle sales fell 0.3% to 126,401 units in August as sales of passenger cars slipped.
The Canadian dollar continued its march toward parity with its U.S. counterpart, tacking on 1.01 cents to 97.47 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher. Global base metals surged 3.4%, information technology gained 2.3%, while metals and mining stocks climbed 2.2%.
The three trailers were telecoms, off 1.4%, gold, slipping 1.1%, and health-care, 0.2% down.
The TSX Venture Exchange moved forward 14.22 points to 1,336.50, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 5.50 points to 735.95.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, the Dow industrials closed above 10,000 Wednesday, ending at the key psychological milestone for the first time in more than a year, following upbeat profit reports from Intel and JPMorgan Chase.
The Dow Jones Industrials jumped 114.80 points, or 1.5%, to 10,015.86, finishing at its highest point since Oct. 3, 2008, when it closed at 10,325.38.
The S&P 500 index put on 18.83 points to 1,092.02. The Nasdaq composite index galloped ahead 32.34 points to 2,172.23.
The advance was broad-based, with 25 of 30 Dow stocks rising. JPMorgan Chase, Caterpillar, Chevron, IBM, 3M, United Technologies and Exxon Mobil were the biggest contributors to the Dow's gains.
While 10,000 is not a significant milestone on a technical basis, it's meaningful on a psychological level, analysts say. It could either usher in more buyers or give investors who think the rally has been too much, too soon a reason to retreat.
Since bottoming at 12-year lows in March of this year, the S&P 500 has surged a little less than 59% as of Tuesday's close.
Other than a few modest pullbacks, stocks have mostly managed to keep moving higher, with investors jumping in to buy the dips on worries that they are missing the boat. Repeated calls for a correction of 10% to 15% have gone unmet, and, say some analysts, are likely to continue going unmet for the short term.
In the afternoon, the Fed released the minutes from the last interest-rate policy meeting. The bankers said that while the economic outlook has improved, activity is still weak. Additionally, most of the bankers raised their economic projections for the second half of the year and for the next two years.
Stocks struggled Tuesday as a weak financial sector and disappointment about Johnson & Johnson's results kept the Dow away from 10,000.
Two Dow issues reported better-than-expected third-quarter results, following component Alcoa's better-than-expected profit report last week. The results have fueled hopes that the third quarter could mark a turning point for corporate profits in the same way it seems to have marked a turning point for the economy.
JPMorgan Chase said it earned $3.6 billion U.S. in the quarter, as strength in its investment banking business tempered rising loan losses. The company said that consumer loan delinquencies are showing signs of stabilization, but that the trend may not continue.
JP Morgan reported higher quarterly sales and earnings that topped analysts' estimates, according to tracker Thomson Financial. Shares gained 3.2% Wednesday.
Late Tuesday, chipmaker Intel said quarterly sales and earnings fell from a year ago, but topped estimates.
Intel also issued a bullish forecast, saying that it expects fourth-quarter revenue of between $9.7 billion and $10.5 billion U.S. versus the $9.51 billion U.S. consensus. Intel also said it expects gross margins, a key measure of profitability, in the 59% to 65% range versus the 56.7% consensus. Shares gained 2.5% Wednesday.
In economic news, retail sales dropped 1.5% in September, beating expectations, according to the U.S. government. A consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a decline of 2.1%. That compares with August, when retail sales increased by the 2.7%.
Excluding auto sales, retail sales rose 0.5% in September. Ex-auto sales were expected to have edged up 0.2% in September, according to Briefing.com, compared to a gain of 1.1% the prior month.
A report on import and export prices showed that the price of U.S. imports edged up 0.1% in September, after increasing 1.6% the prior month.
The price of exports slipped 0.3% in September, after a revised increase of 1.6% the prior month.
Treasury prices backtracked, raising the yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 3.41% from Tuesday’s 3.32%.
The price of a barrel of oil gained $1.03 to $75.16 U.S.
Gold prices were flat at $1,065 U.S. an ounce.
