The Toronto stock market rallied Wednesday led by gains in the mining and energy sectors as commodity prices moved higher.
The S&P TSX Composite Index tacked on 108.24 points to end the day at 12,901.99
The Canadian dollar leaped 1.29 cents to 98.90 cents U.S.
The energy sector was up with shares of Suncor Energy Inc. gaining 43 cents to $34.38. Mining stocks also improved, as shares in Teck Resources Ltd. gained $1.02 to $49.84.
In the gold patch, which suffered, shares of Barrick Gold Corp. was down 46 cents to $51.49.
Shares of Maple Leaf Foods fell 10.4%, or $1.32 to $11.37, after resuming trading. On Tuesday, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board announced it would sell its entire stake for 17% below market value.
In other Canadian corporate news, Cameco announced Tuesday it signed an agreement with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. Ltd. to supply 13 million kilograms of uranium concentrate under a long-term agreement through 2025. Shares in the company gained $1.58 to $37.58.
Natural gas and oil producer Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. said it would begin a quarterly dividend with distribution of $25 million U.S. or 9.4 cents per common share. Its stock was trading up $1.20 to $31.72.
The Conference Board of Canada’s consumer confidence rose 3.9 points to 83.6 this month, signaling a more hopeful outlook for future finances and the anticipation of increased job creation going forward.
With no economic news to focus on today here in Canada, investors digested the barrage of reports affecting the U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX/Venture Exchange garnered 22.06 points to 2,023.58 while the Nasdaq Canada index added 17.12 points to 733.82.
In Toronto, all but two of the 14 subgroups gained ground, most notably, metals and mining, up 2.2%, global base metals, advancing 1.5%, and energy stocks, 1.3% stronger.
The two laggards were gold, off 0.9%, and utilities, sliding 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks rallied more than 1% Wednesday after a huge drop in unemployment claims signaled some signs of life in the depressed labour market.
The Dow Jones Industrials soared 150.91 points, or 1.4%, to go into a long weekend at 11,187.30.
The S&P 500 was up 17.62 points to 1,198.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index powered up 48.17 points to 2,543.12.
A drop in new home sales, a dour durable goods order report and ongoing worries about the eurozone couldn't stop the momentum.
Financial markets will be closed Thursday and will close at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.
After the holiday, investors will be focused on retailers to see how sales fare on Black Friday.
It's considered the first shopping day of the critical holiday retail period, and a key barometer of how the next six weeks will pan out.
The gains were broad based, with all but three Dow components in the black. Caterpillar, Boeing and United Technologies were among the biggest gainers on the blue-chip index. Tech stocks were also having a nice run with Amazon.com and Sandisk logging big gains.
Business software maker SAP said after Tuesday's close that it has been ordered to pay $1.3 billion U.S. to Oracle for copyright infringement by its now-defunct software maintenance unit. Oracle's stock rose 2%.
Deere, the tractor and lawn mower maker, reported earnings per share of $1.07 U.S., besting analyst expectations. Shares edged slightly lower.
High-end jewelry chain Tiffany & Co. reported earnings per share of 46 cents U.S. per share, topping the 37 cents U.S. per share expected by analysts. The company cited strong sales in Asia for its better-than-expected performance. Shares of Tiffany leaped more than 4%.
On the economic front, before the start of trade, the Commerce Department reported a surprising decline in orders for durable goods for October.
The department reported a 3.3% decline in orders for items meant to last three years or more. Economists polled by Briefing.com had projected orders would increase by 0.4% in October.
Also, the Commerce Department reported that new home sales dropped 8.1% in October. Analysts had expected an increase. While the number of new homes on the market is 202,000, there's about a nine-month supply in the pipeline, at the current sales rate.
The Department of Labor released cheery, weekly new jobless claims, which showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits totaled 407,000 last week. The Briefing.com consensus of economists had forecast 442,000.
Washington also released the latest data on personal income and spending. Personal income rose 0.5% in October, slightly outpacing the expected increase of 0.4% forecast by a consensus of economists.
Personal spending rose 0.4% in October, falling short of expectations, which called for a 0.6% increase.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury moved sharply down, raising the yield to 2.91% from 2.76% late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil chugged ahead $2.31 a barrel to $84.07 U.S. The price of gold sank $2.33 to $1,374.25 U.S. an ounce.
