The Toronto stock market was up Tuesday, building on the strong gains racked up so far this month amid a stream of earnings reports.
The S&P/TSX composite index vaulted 68.77 to close at 13,440.61
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.21 cents to 95.53 cents U.S.
TD Bank climbed 96 cents to $95.15 while Manulife Financial advanced 33 cents to $18.32.
The consumer discretionary segment led the TSX was up as information giant Thomson Reuters Inc. said that it is cutting about 3,000 jobs as part of its plan to speed up its cost cuts. The cuts are mainly in the company's financial and risk division.
The company is also recording $350 million U.S. of accounting items related to a restructuring of that unit. Thomson's reported adjusted earnings 48 cents per share and its shares advanced $1.26, or 3.4%, to $38.58 after hitting a fresh 52-week high of $38.48.
The energy sector gained while Canadian Natural Resources improved by 92 cents to $33.61.
The gold sector led declines, while Goldcorp faded 83 cents to $27.48 while Barrick Gold Corp. moved 44 cents lower to $20.71.
The base metals segment was down while December copper rose one cent to $3.29 U.S. a pound. First Quantum Minerals shed 30 cents to $18.77.
Investors also digested 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 81 cents, or 6%, to $14.35.
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 3.87 points to 968.44
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher on the day, led by consumer discretionary stocks, up 1.1%, while financials and industrials improved 1% each.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by gold, down 2.6%, while materials scaled back 1.5% and metals and mining issues docked 1.1%.
Information technology stocks were unchanged on the day.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose again Tuesday, despite a lackluster report on retail sales and a brief glitch involving the NASDAQ.
The Dow Jones Industrials roared ahead 111.42 points to close at 15,680.30
The S&P 500 index added 9.86 points to yesterday’s all-time high close, to 1,771.97. The NASDAQ recovered 12.21 points to 3,952.34.
The NASDAQ Composite index and NASDAQ-100 stopped updating just before noon due to dissemination issues. The tech-heavy indexes resumed updating at 12:45 ET.
Options trading was halted, but stocks listed on the NASDAQ were not affected.
Still, this glitch is the latest in a string of malfunctions at the Nasdaq that began with the marred debut of Facebook in May 2012.
Apple shares started the day higher but quickly fell into the red as investors worried about the company's declining profit margin.
Shares of rival Nokia were higher after the company reported 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.
IBM shares jumped after the company announced it will buy back $15 billion U.S. in stock, adding to its existing buyback program. IBM is one of the most heavily weighted stocks in the Dow. So its move helped push the Dow higher.
Tesla shares were down for a third day in a row. The stock has taken a dive this month, but is still up 370% for the year.
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 gained, dropping yields back to Monday’s 2.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 43 cents to $98.25 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stumbled $6.50 to $1,345.70 U.S. an ounce.
