Equities in Canada’s largest centre rose on Thursday as oil prices recovered on hopes for production cuts, while some provinces prepared to ease shutdowns imposed to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index started off the session on the right foot, gaining 112.38 points to 14,400.54.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.47 cents to 71.08 cents U.S.
National Bank of Canada upped the rating on Alamos Gold to "outperform" from "sector perform".
CIBC raised the target price on Keyera to $25.00 from $23.50
CIBC raised the target price on Northland Power to $32.00 from $30.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange acquired 4.92 points to 457.51.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, energy up 4.1%, gold advancing 3.1%, and materials, ahead 2.8%.
The three laggards were consumer discretionary, down 0.4%, consumer staples, off 0.3%, and utilities, sliding 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Thursday as oil prices recovered even more ground after a historic plunge while Wall Street digested the latest U.S. unemployment and earnings data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 136.83 points to 23,612.65.
The S&P 500 picked up 23.2 points to 2,822.51.
The NASDAQ Composite surged 81.95 points, or 1%, to 8,577.33.
On the earnings front, CSX shares gained more than 3% after the railroad company posted quarterly profits that beat expectations. Union Pacific also got a boost from stronger-than-forecast earnings.
The major averages have staged a massive rebound since hitting a coronavirus-crisis low on March 23. In that time, the Dow S&P 500 and NASDAQ are all up over 20%. Still, the major averages remain well below the record highs set in February.
U.S. traders on Thursday also pored through the Labor Department’s latest report on jobless claims.
Another 4.4 million workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. That brought the five-week jobless claims total to more than 26 million, erasing all the job gains since the Great Recession. However, Thursday’s print represented a decline from the jobless claims number reported in the previous week.
West Texas Intermediate futures for June delivery jumped 24% to $17.08 per barrel as traders increased bets on U.S. production cuts. WTI also rallied on Wednesday.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 0.61% from Wednesday’s 0.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on $3.06 to $16.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $15.00 to $1,753.300 U.S. an ounce.
