The Toronto stock market rebounded Monday following three losing sessions amid rising commodity prices and some positive U.S. economic data.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the day up 218.30 points, or nearly 2%, to 11,312.61.
The TSX energy sector moved higher as oil prices rose following four days of declines. On the TSX, EnCana Corp. rose 88 cents to $33.58 while Canadian Natural Resources climbed 87 cents to $69.12.
The gold sector was up, as Barrick Gold Corp. gained $1.55 to $38.67 while Goldcorp Inc. advanced $1.42 to $37.66.
The base metals sector rose, with March copper ahead two cents at $3.07 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources Ltd. rose $1.67 to $36.68 and FNX Mining rose 64 cents to $12.70.
The financial sector was also supportive, as Manulife Financial advanced 40 cents to $19.94.
A major loser on the TSX was Cinram International, one of the world’s biggest DVD manufacturers.
Its units plunged $1.75 or 60.1% to $1.16 after Warner Home Video announced it is ending its agreement with the Toronto-based supplier. Cinram estimates about 28% of its revenue last year came from Warner Home Video.
ConjuChem Biotechnologies Inc. said Friday it lost $15.8 million in its latest financial year compared with a loss of $39.4 million the previous year. Its shares were off one cent at 10 cents.
Imperial Oil Ltd. says noise restrictions recommended in a regulatory report last month are so stringent they may threaten the development of the Mackenzie Gas Project. The report says noise from facilities to be built in the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary should be at or below 50 decibels, 300 metres from the fence line. Its shares rose 53 cents to $38.97.
Shares in MagIndustries Corp. rose a nickel to 57 cents after the Toronto-based company signed a framework agreement with a Beijing-headquartered construction company, which is negotiating to build and find up to $1.2 billion U.S. in financing for the proposed Mengo potash project in western Africa.
The battle between Toronto-based merchant bank C.A. Bancorp Inc. and a hostile bidder appears to have come to an end, with Maxam Opportunities Fund Ltd. backing away from its offer. The self-described alternative asset manager said it would let its takeover offer for C.A. Bancorp expire on Tuesday after its bid of $1.45 a share was rejected by the bank. C.A. Bancorp shares fell six cents to $1.43.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.83 cents to 94.17 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All 14 TSX subgroups ended the day positive, led by the 4.9% surge exhibited by metals and mining, while materials and gold soared 4.5% each.
The TSX Venture Exchange was 17.55 points better at 1,509.70, while the Nasdaq Canada index was ahead 15.01 points to 700.08.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks surged Monday, starting off a new month with gains, as investors welcomed better-than-expected reports on personal income, manufacturing and Exxon Mobil's profit.
The Dow Jones industrial average rocketed up 118.20 points, or 1.2%, to greet the closing bell at 10,185.53. The S&P 500 index gained 15.32 points to 1,089.19. The Nasdaq composite was ahead 23.85 points to 2,171.20.
Wall Street ended one of the worst months in nearly a year Friday, with the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all closing at two-month lows. President Obama's plan to restrict trading at big banks, China's bank lending curbs and global debt worries all rattled investors.
But investors used the selloff as an opportunity to get back into stocks Monday, continuing the trend of the last year.
Experts said that with the market up more than 50% from the lows of last March, a correction of 10% to 15% was not out of the question. Between the high on Jan. 19 and Friday's lows, the S&P 500 lost just under 7%.
Gains were broad based, with 27 of 30 Dow components rising, led by Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, McDonald's and Exxon Mobil.
Exxon Mobil reported a profit of $6.05 billion U.S. or $1.27 U.S. per share, down about 18% from the fourth quarter of 2008 when oil prices were lower and fuel demand was higher. Nonetheless, results topped the forecasts of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
With around 45% of the S&P 500 having reported results, earnings are currently on track to have risen 206% from a year ago, according to the latest from Thomson Reuters. But the rise is mostly due to cost-cutting and easy comparisons to an abysmal fourth quarter of 2008.
The financial sector in particular is set to bounce back. Strip out financial sector results and earnings are only expected to rise 15%.
Revenue is set to rise about 7% year over year. Without financials, revenue is expected to rise about 2%.
On Monday, Toyota announced plans to fix millions of gas pedals in recalled vehicles and said it has already shipped out parts to dealers.
The fix eliminates the problem that caused pedals to stick, which prompted the recall of 2.3 million vehicles in the United States.
President Obama unveiled a $3.8-trillion-U.S. budget for 2011 Monday morning that looks to both support the still-fragile economy and temper the nation's growing deficit.
Personal income rose 0.4% in December, the Commerce Department reported, surprising economists who were looking for an increase of 0.3% on average, according to Briefing.com estimates. Income rose 0.5% in the previous month.
Personal spending rose 0.2% after rising 0.3% in the previous month. Economists thought it would rise 0.3% in December.
The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to 58.4 in January from 54.9 in December. Economists thought it would rise to 55.5.
Construction spending fell 1.2% in December, worse than the drop of 0.5% economists were expecting. Spending fell 1.2% in November.
Treasury prices slid, thus raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.65% from Friday’s 3.60%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil went up $1.90 to $74.79 U.S.
Gold prices leaped $22 to $1,105 U.S.
