The Toronto stock market enjoyed a solid advance Thursday afternoon with almost all sectors ahead on the last day of trading before the Easter weekend.
The S&P/TSX composite index hiked 84.07 points to close a short week at 15,026.62.
The Canadian dollar improved 0.34 cents to 79.57 cents U.S.
Energy stocks led the pack, as Calfrac Well Services galloped 56 cents, or 6.7%, to $8.96. Imperial Oil gained 49 cents, or nearly 1%, to $51.34.
Consumer staples also fared well, as Metro Inc. gained 71 cents, or 2.1%, to $23.14, while Loblaw Companies took on $1.09, or 1.8%, to $63.38.
Among consumer discretionary stocks, Amaya Inc. grew 94 cents, or 3.1%, to $31.20
One of two lagging groups was the gold sector, in which Lake Shore Gold took it on the chin 5.5 cents, or 5.1%, to $1.02.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that imports declined 0.7% in February while exports were up 0.4%. Consequently, our merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $1.5 billion in January to $984 million in February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.70 points to 683.02
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher. Energy stocks climbed 1.7%, while consumer staples added 1.5%, and consumer discretionary stocks gained 1.3%.
The two laggards were gold, off 1.7%, and materials, down 0.6%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks snapped a two-day losing streak on Thursday, the last trading day for the week, as investors digested economic data, set up for Friday's jobs report and weighed news of a possible accord between Iran and major world powers.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 65.06 points, closing at 17,763.24. Home Depot led all blue-chip stocks, while Microsoft was the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 improved 9.54 points to 2,069.23, with consumer discretionary leading nine advancers with information technology the only decliner.
The NASDAQ moved higher 11.19 points to 4,891.41.
In corporate news, Lumber Liquidators said March sales were hurt by the "60 Minutes" report on alleged safety problems with its flooring, falling 12.8% compared to a year ago. However, it also notes that first quarter sales were up 5.6%, which puts them above Street estimates.
The CFTC sued Kraft Foods and Mondelez for alleged manipulation of wheat futures and cash wheat prices. Some of the incidents mentioned in the complaint occurred before the 2012 transaction which split Kraft and Mondelez into separate companies.
Mondelez said it does not expect any payment resulting from this case to be material to investors, and Kraft told the media that Mondelez will predominantly bear any costs related to the case.
Pfizer will shut down its vaccine sales operation in China after regulators did not renew an import license for its anti-bacterial treatment Prevenar, the only vaccine it sells in that country.
AIG has been sued by investment firm Pimco, with dozens of Pimco funds saying they suffered sizable losses during the 2008 financial crisis due to AIG's investment in "exotic securities." AIG said it would vigorously defend itself against those charges.
Economically speaking, factory orders showed an increase of 0.2% in February, beating expectations for a second month of decline.
Futures were little changed following a decline in weekly jobless claims to 268,000. February's trade deficit also came in much smaller than expected at $35.4 billion U.S.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries sagged, boosting yields to 1.91% from Wednesday’s 1.87%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices subtracted 65 cents to $49.52 U.S.
Gold prices sifted off $6.90 to $1,201.30 U.S.
