Stocks Plow Toward New Records

Equities in Canada’s largest market opened higher on Monday, led by energy shares, as signs of progress in developing a coronavirus vaccine bolstered hopes of economic revival and pushed up oil prices.

The TSX scaled higher 75.29 points to begin November’s last full week at 17,094.39

The Canadian dollar nicked higher 0.07 cents to 76.49 cents U.S.

One of the unions on strike at Chile's Candelaria copper mine has reported accepted a 30-month collective agreement from Lundin Mining on Friday. Lundin shares climbed 15 cents, or 1.7%, to $9.20.

Scotiabank raise the target price on Bank of Montreal to $104.00 from $85.00. BMO shares jumped $1.40, or 1.5%, to $94.75.

Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage of Fission Uranium with a speculative buy rating. Fission shares were unchanged Monday at 23.5 cents.

CIBC raised the price target on Imperial Oil to $26.00 from $25.00. IMO shares vaulted $1.08, or 4.8%, to $23.65.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange continued its upward trek, assuming 7.24 points, or 1%, to 747.69, after a strong week last week. The exchange is up more than 160 points since 2020 started.

Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive to begin Monday, led by energy, up 3.1%, while consumer discretionary and financial stocks each gained 0.9%.

The four laggards were weighed most by gold, fading 2.1%, while materials docked 0.8%, and health-care issues lost 0.3%.

ON WALLSTREET

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rose on Monday after AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said their coronavirus vaccine was up to 90% effective, becoming the third inoculation this month that was revealed to be effective in trial data.

The 30-stock index regained 157.35 points to open Monday at 29,420.83.

The S&P 500 recovered 10.34 points to 3,567.88.

The NASDAQ eked up 2.88 points to 11,857.85.

Shares of cruise lines and airlines jumped on hope distributing these vaccines would reopen the economy and boost travel early next year. Shares of Carnival Corp. added 3% while United Airlines rose 1%.

Tech stocks, meanwhile, were under pressure. Facebook and Apple fell more than 1% each. Netflix traded lower by 0.9%. Microsoft and Alphabet dipped slightly.

On Monday, Goldman Sachs cut its fourth-quarter GDP forecast along with its economic growth estimate for the first quarter of 2021. The bank now expects the U.S. economy to grow by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. That’s down from a previous forecast of 4.5% annualized growth. In the first quarter of next year, Goldman now sees economic growth of just 1%, down from a previous estimate of 3.5%.

The positive vaccine data this month has jolted stocks higher to record highs, despite concern about rising cases. Despite stalling out a bit last week, the Dow is up 10% in November. The S&P 500 is up 8%.

The major averages hit their session highs after IHS Markit said its U.S. manufacturing and services purchasing managers’ indexes hit multi-year highs. The flash U.S. services index rose to 57.7, its highest level in more than five years. The manufacturing PMI popped to 56.7, its highest level in over six years.

Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were lower, boosting yields to 0.86% from at Friday’s 0.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices moved up 37 cents to $42.79 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices dropped $38.20 to $1,834.20 U.S.