The Toronto stock market was higher Tuesday amid a stream of earnings reports and a major real estate deal involving Sears Canada.
The retailer will get $400 million from its landlords for vacating five department stores by the end of February, including its flagship location in Toronto's Eaton Centre. Sears shares gained 87 cents or 6.4% to $14.41.
The S&P/TSX composite index vaulted 64.51 to stop midday at 13,436.35
The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 95.75 cents U.S.
The consumer discretionary segment led the TSX, as information giant Thomson Reuters Inc. says it will record $350 million U.S. of accounting items related to a restructuring of its Financial & Risk business unit.
The restructuring charge was announced along with the Thomson's third-quarter results, which showed revenue from the Finance & Risk unit was down compared with a year ago while other units showed increases. Thomson's adjusted earnings for the three months ended Sept. 30 was 48 cents per share and its shares advanced 92 cents to $38.24.
Financials also helped take the TSX higher as TD Bank climbed 74 cents to $94.93.
The energy sector gained ground while Talisman Energy improved by 34 cents to $13.25.
The base metals segment was ahead while December copper rose one cent to $3.28 U.S. a pound. Capstone Mining climbed eight cents to $2.86.
The gold sector decline, as Goldcorp faded 33 cents to $27.98.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported this morning that its industrial product price index dipped 0.3% in September – mostly due to lower prices for metals, petroleum and coal products -- while its raw materials price index doffed 1.5% during the same month, led by mineral fuels and vegetable products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 2.43 points to 969.88
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher by noon, led by health-care, up 1%, financials, up 0.9% and industrials, gaining 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by gold, off 1.5%, materials, sliding 0.9% and the metals and mining group, down 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose again in early trading Tuesday, despite a lackluster report on retail sales.
The Dow Jones Industrials roared ahead 72.34 points to greet noon ET at 15,641.30
The S&P 500 index added 4.97 points to yesterday’s all-time high close, to sit at noon Tuesday at 1,767.08. The NASDAQ dipped 0.11 points to 3,940.02.
Apple shares declined as investors worried about the company's declining profit margins, despite quarterly sales and profit that handily beat Wall Street estimates.
Pfizer reported a decline in revenue and profit for the third quarter, but a 24% revenue surge in its cancer division. The drug maker also lowered the top end of its guidance.
Nokia reported flat sales and profit for the third quarter. But the Finnish tech company's stock rose as investors welcomed a jump in smartphone sales. Nokia is in the process of selling its mobile device unit to Microsoft.
Baidu and LinkedIn are on tap to release results after the bell.
Retail sales slipped 0.1% in September. The decline was the first since March but was in line with expectations.
A separate report showed that home prices kept rising in August, with prices in 20 big cities climbing at a 12.8% annual rate, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index.
The Federal Reserve will also be in focus as the central bank kicks off its two-day policy meeting. A statement is due Wednesday afternoon. The Fed is widely expected to keep its stimulus measures in place, but investors will be looking for signs to determine when the Fed may begin scaling back, or tapering, its $85 billion monthly bond buying program.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged, raising yields to 2.52% from Monday’s 2.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 52 cents to $98.16 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stumbled $4.60 to $1,347.60 U.S. an ounce.
