Equities staged a rally Wednesday throughout North America, amid renewed optimism a speech Thursday night by U.S. President Barack Obama will contain stimuli for job creation.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index finished the session ahead 202.02 points, or 1.6%, to 12,720.56
The Canadian dollar stepped ahead 0.49 of a cent to 101.47 cents U.S.
The mining sector led the main TSX index higher. Shares in miner Teck Resources Ltd. added $1.51 to $42.85.
In Canadian corporate news, grain handler Viterra Inc. says its third-quarter net earnings nearly doubled to $123.3 million, or 33 cents per share, an increase from $63.5 million, or 17 cents per share, a year ago. Sales rose 43 per cent to $3.55 billion from $2.49 billion. Shares in Viterra gained 44 cents to $10.74.
Mosaid Technologies Inc. says its board is formally rejecting the unsolicited $480-million takeover offer from Wi-LAN Inc., another patent licensing firm based in Ottawa. The board says the offer of $38 per share in cash is too low and doesn’t reflect the value of Mosaid’s future prospects. Mosaid shares sank 37 cents at $40.83, while Wi-Lan shares added 36 cents to $7.28.
The Donlin Gold partnership owned by NovaGold Resources Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp. has dramatically increased the projected cost of developing a B.C. gold mine and infrastructure. It now estimates it will cost $7 million U.S., including $1 billion U.S. for a natural gas pipeline that hadn’t been anticipated in the 2009 estimate. The earlier projected cost was $4.5 billion U.S.
Shares in Barrick gained 56 cents to $53.71, while NovaGold shares lost 56 cents to $10.54.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked downward 0.51 points to 1,789.31, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 16.44 points to 539.33
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive on the day. Metals and mining led the charge, up 5.1%, global base metals picked up 3.7% and information technology improved 2.8%.
The one laggard was gold, off 0.1%
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks rallied right out of the gate and continued to pick up steam Wednesday afternoon, as concerns over Europe's debt crisis eased and investors geared up for President Obama's highly anticipated jobs speech later in the week.
The Dow Jones Industrials regained 275.56 points, or 2.5%, to finish the day at 11,414.90
The S&P 500 recovered 33.38 points to 1,198.62, while the Nasdaq roared back 75.11 to 2,548.94.
Stocks got off to an ugly start in September, with all three indexes declining more than 4% during the past three trading days amid fears about Europe's money troubles and a stalling economic recovery in the United States.
Wednesday's renewed optimism came on the back of solid gains in stock markets around the world, after a German court ruling rejected lawsuits intended to block Germany's involvement in providing other euro-zone members with bailout packages.
But the court's decision also said that the German parliament must have a greater say in the decisions, which could make slow the process.
Investors are also preparing for President Obama to unveil a new $300-billion U.S. jobs proposal Thursday evening aimed at stimulating the stagnant labour market.
While details of the plan are limited ahead of the speech, one expert said investors will be listening for measures that haven't been "pre-announced."
Jobs are clearly on investors' minds, especially following last week's dismal government report that showed zero job growth in August -- stoking fears of another recession.
In company news, Shares of Yahoo jumped 6%, after the company announced that CEO Carol Bartz was fired late Tuesday. Tim Morse, the company's chief financial officer, was named as Yahoo's
interim CEO.
Also late Tuesday, Bank of America announced plans to reshape its management team by letting go of Joe Price, the president of consumer and small-business banking, and Sallie Krawcheck, president of wealth and investment management. Bank of America shares rose more than 7%.
Other financial stocks followed Bank of America's lead, with shares of Citigroup and JPMorgan up 5%. Goldman Sachs' stock edged up 4%.
After the closing bell, homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises will release its corporate results.
Economically speaking, the Mortgage Bankers Association said the number of Americans who filed applications for the week ended Sept. 2 fell 4.9%.
In the Federal Reserve's Beige Book report, a reading of the economic situation from the regional Fed banks, the central bank said "economic activity continued to expand at a modest pace," though some of the Fed's 12 districts noted "mixed or weakening" activity.
Signs of slower growth add pressure on the central bank to announce new steps to stimulate the economy followings its two-day meeting on monetary policy later this month.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, lifting the yield to 2.04% from Tuesday’s record low of 1.98%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for October delivery jumped $4.20 to $89.28 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery fell $55.70, or 3%, to settle at $1,817.60 U.S. an ounce.
