Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday, with oil and gas shares leading the rally on stronger crude prices.
The S&P/TSX composite index screamed higher 106.11 points to greet noon at 15,495.39
The Canadian dollar regained 0.59 cents to 80.69 cents U.S.
Among oil and gas stocks, Suncor Energy rose 1.2% to $40.39, while Cenovus Energy Inc advanced 3.7% to $23.57.
Metals stocks rose, as Turquoise Hill Resources took on 11 cents, or 2.2%, to $5.01.
Financials rose, led by Bank of Nova Scotia, which rose 0.9% to $65.28, and by Royal Bank of Canada, which gained 0.6% to $80.78.
The materials group climbed, as Canexus Corporation surged 16 cents, or 9.8%, to $1.74.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada noted this morning that manufacturing sales declined 1.7% to $50.0 billion in February, the fourth decrease in five months.
The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 0.75%. The Bank rate is 1% and the deposit rate is 0.5%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 8.35 points to 704.40
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher midday, with energy gushing 3.3%, metals and mining better by 1.2%, and gold up 0.9%.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 1.4%, consumer staples, off 0.9%, and consumer discretionaries, down 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Wednesday as oil traded near highs for the year and investors continued to digest financial earnings and economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 52.61 points to 18,089.31,
The S&P 500 index advanced 9.97 points to 2,105.81.
The NASDAQ index recovered 24.71 points to 5,002.
Oil drilling and exploration giant Transocean led nearly all energy stocks in the S&P 500 higher with a spike of more than 7%.
Before the open on Tuesday, Bank of America posted a first-quarter profit, swinging from a surprise loss a year earlier when it took a charge of $6 billion U.S. for litigation expenses.
However, the bank saw a slight decline in its investment banking and equity and debt market businesses while JPMorgan Chase reported investment banking fees and core trading revenues were both up about 20% year over year.
Among the several other financial firms posting results before the bell, US Bancorp reported earnings in-line with estimates on revenue that missed. PNC Financial beat on earnings but missed on revenue.
Delta Air Lines led gains in the Dow transports after reporting an adjusted 45 cents per share for its latest quarter, one cent above estimates, with revenue essentially in line.
The airline said this represented the best March quarter in its history, although it added that the strong dollar was presenting headwinds for its international revenue.
After the bell, reports are expected from Netflix, Kinder Morgan, Universal Forest Products and Wintrust Financial.
On the data front, industrial production for March showed a greater-than-expected decline of 0.6%, following a slight gain in February. Capacity utilization also came in slightly below the previous month.
The National Association of Home Builders housing market index showed a sharp increase to 56 in April.
The Federal Reserve's Beige Book comes at 2:00 p.m. ET. Treasury data on international capital flows is due at 4 p.m.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were higher, lowering yields to 1.87% from Tuesday’s 1.90%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices leaped $2.48 to $55.77 U.S.
Gold prices gained $3.40 to $1,196.00 U.S.
