The Toronto stock market grew by leaps and bounds Thursday after the European Central Bank announced a major stimulus program aimed at reviving a weak economic recovery and stopping the euro-zone from slipping into a deflationary spiral.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 203.56 points to close out the day at 14,763.98
The Canadian dollar skidded another 0.43 cents to 80.61 cents U.S.,
All sectors advanced, real-estate issues leading the charge. Brookfield Asset Management added $2.24, or 3.6%, to $64.68.
Among information technology issues, as BlackBerry shot up 93 cents, or 7.6%, to $13.18 after the Financial Post reported that Samsung Electronics is actively pursuing a plan to take over or buy a significant stake in the Canadian company.
Industrials were ahead as Canadian Pacific Railway posted quarterly net income of $451 million, or $2.63 per share, up from $82 million, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier. Results a year ago were affected by an impairment charge of $435 million.
Adjusted earnings were $2.68 per share, 11 cents ahead of estimates. Revenue of $1.76 billion beat forecasts of $1.732 billion. CP also warned that 2015 profit could miss analysts' estimates as the slump in oil prices could affect crude shipments and its shares were down 94 cents at $226.02.
Rival Canadian National Railways shares were up $3.24, or 3.9%, to $86.31.
Mining stocks were positive as the gold sector was up. Barrick Gold inching up 20 cents to $15.89
The base metals sector rose as the March copper contact was three cents lower at $2.58 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources gained 10 cents to $15.97.
Financials were also positive but Royal Bank fell $2.06, or 2.7% to $74.55 as it moved to grow its wealth management business in the U.S. The bank announced an agreement to buy Los Angeles-based City National Corp. in a friendly cash and stock deal worth $5.4 billion U.S.
Among energy stocks --- which also found their way upwards – Imperial Oil gained 23 cents to $47.10.
ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank is launching a program of quantitative easing that will involve spending 60 billion euros a month to buy investment grade sovereign bonds.
There had been hopes Draghi would announce such a measure, which is aimed at getting euro-zone inflation up to the ECB target of 2%. He added that the program will start in March and continue through September 2016.
But Draghi indicated the program is basically open-ended until inflation is back on track.
On the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported this morning that those of us drawing unemployment insurance benefits during November registered at 490,500, or 0.3% less than October.
The agency added that, compared with November 2013, the number of beneficiaries dropped 28,800, or 5.5%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell into the red 0.08 points to 678.97.
All 14 Toronto subgroups gained ground, led by real-estate, up 2.6%, consumer staples, better by 2.4%, and telecoms, up 2.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks climbed on Thursday, extending gains into a fourth session, after the European Central Bank unfurled expanded stimulus and companies including Southwest Airlines posted upbeat quarterly earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrials screamed higher 259.30 points, or 1.5%, to 17,813.98, with UnitedHealth Group leading blue-chip gains that extended to 27 of 30 components.
The S&P 500 gained 31.03 points to 2,063.15, with financials leading sector gains and telecom faring the most poorly among its 10 major industries.
The NASDAQ index leaped 82.98 points to 4,750.40
Southwest rose after the carrier posted quarterly earnings and revenue above estimates.
Union Pacific advanced after the railway reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, and KeyCorp jumped after the regional bank tallied fourth-quarter results.
Thursday's economic data had 307,000 Americans filing for jobless benefits last week, down 10,000 but more than the 300,000 forecast.
ECB President Mario Draghi said the central bank would make monthly bond purchases of as much as $70 billion U.S. starting in March, and running through September of next year.
Draghi's announcement came after the ECB held benchmark rates unchanged at record lows.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell, lifting yields to 1.90% from Wednesday’s 1.85%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices demurred $1.14 per barrel to $46.38 U.S.
Gold prices gained $11.10 an ounce to $1,305.70 U.S.
