The stock rally picked up in Toronto on Thursday from where it left off on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve painted an upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy and promised to be patient in raising rates.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved higher 144.40 points, or 1%, to start Thursday’s session at 14,358.28
The Canadian dollar gained 0.14 cents to 86.08 cents U.S.,
Convenience store chain Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc will buy U.S. convenience store chain The Pantry Inc for $1.7 billion, including debt. Couche-Tard stock spiked $2.00, or 4.5%, to $46.56.
RBC cut the rating on Savanna Energy Services to sector perform from outperform. Savanna shares took on five cents to $3.17.
Canada’s biggest bank also cut the rating on Black Diamond Group to sector perform from outperform. Black Diamond stock dipped 11 cents to $14.94.
Barclays cut the price target on Enerplus Corp. to $21 from $22. Enerplus stock sprinted $1.36, or 12.4%, to $12.36.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported that those of us drawing regular Employment Insurance benefits in October totaled 491,400, fairly stationary from the previous month.
Compared with October 2013, the number of EI beneficiaries decreased 26,800 or 5.2%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 9.05 points to 668.05
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups started the day higher, as energy boosted 3.2%, gold was 2.4% better and metals and mining solidified 1.9%.
The three laggards were telecoms, off 0.8%, health-care, docking 0.3%, and real-estate, sinking 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks surged on Thursday, extending Wall Street's best day of the year, after the Federal Reserve said it would be patient in increasing interest rates and as crude furthered its rise.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 260.98 points, or 1.5%, to 17,617.85, with Goldman Sachs Group leading blue-chip gains that included 29 of 30 components.
The S&P 500 hiked 32.38 points to 2,045.27, with energy leading gains that included all 10 of its major sectors.
The NASDAQ index climbed 74.13 points to 4,718.44.
Hertz Global Holdings jumped after investor Carl Icahn reported hiking his stake in the car-rental company.
Thursday data had jobless claims falling by 6,000 to 289,000 last week, the lowest since early November.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries sagged, raising yields to 2.21% from Wednesday’s 2.15%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 50 cents per barrel to $56.97 U.S.
Gold prices recovered $9.60 an ounce at $1,204.10U.S.
