Equity markets in Toronto put some distance between themselves and the breakeven point Thursday as gains in health-care and energy propelled numbers upward
The TSX Composite Index gained 35.9 points to move into lunch hour at 17,067.88
The Canadian dollar was flat at 76.2 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was SNC-Lavalin, which jumped $2.33, or 8.1%, to $31.03, extending gains after markets positively perceived the company pleading guilty to fraud charges on Wednesday.
Gibson Energy fell 58 cents, or 3.1%, the most on the TSX, to $27.09. The second biggest decliner was Gran Tierra Energy, down two cents, or 1.3%, to $1.48.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported wholesale sales declined 1.1% to $64.2 billion in October, the second decrease in five months.
Also, the average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,042 in October, little changed from September. Compared with October 2018, earnings grew 3.3%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange acquired 3.17 points to 541.88
The 12 subgroups remained evenly split, as health-care gained 2.8%, while energy gushed 1.3%, and information technology climbed 1.2%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by materials and utilities, each down 0.2%, while gold stepped back 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose to all-time highs on Thursday as investors looked past the news of President Donald Trump’s impeachment as well as mixed U.S. economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 107.38 points by noon EST to 28,346.66
The S&P 500 gathered 10.79 points to 3,201.93
The NASDAQ added 46.15 points to Wednesday’s all-time record, at 8,873.88.
The S&P 500 is up nearly 7% since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched a formal impeachment inquiry in September. During President Bill Clinton’s impeachment process in the late 1990s, the broad index surged more than 26%.
Cisco Systems and Walgreens were the best-performing Dow components, rising more than 2% each. The real estate and materials led the S&P 500 higher, gaining 0.4% each. Micron Technology shares also contributed to Thursday’s move higher, climbing 3.5% on the back of strong quarterly results. The chipmaker posted earnings per share and revenue that topped analyst expectations.
Conagra shares surged more than 18% and were on pace for their biggest one-day gain since Nov. 5, 1984.
On the economic data front, weekly jobless claims fell to 234,000 from 252,000 the week before. However, economists expected claims to fall to 225,000.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s business conditions index fell to 0.3 in December from 10.4 in the previous month. Economists expected the index to slip to 8.
The Democrat-led House of Representatives voted Wednesday to impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump became only the third president to be charged with high crimes and misdemeanors and will now face a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury gained back lost ground, lowering yields to 1.91% from Wednesday’s 1.93%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 37 cents to $61.30 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices moved forward $4.20 at $1,482.90 U.S. an ounce.
