TSX Thunders Ahead

The positive vibes continued to surge over markets all over North America, with stocks in Toronto in particular leaping on the backs of gold and material issues.

The TSX Composite Index kept its win streak alive, gathering 263.97 points to close Thursday at 23,475.14.

The Canadian dollar ended the day static at 73.65 cents U.S.

Leading the index were B2Gold, up 48 cents, or 12.9%, to $4.20, and Aya Gold & Silver, improving $1.44, or 10.2%, to $15.57.

Materials also performed well, notably, Fortuna Silver Mines, ahead 55 cents, or 9.4%, to $6.42, while Silvercrest Metals, better by $1.10, or 9.9%, to $12.20.

In utilities, Boralex captured $1.36, or 4.2%, to $33.67, while Brookfield Renewable Partners climbed $1.23, or 3.6%, to $35.47.

Among the biggest laggards in the index, Shopify was down 23 cents to $96.84, GFL Environmental dropped 62 cents, or 1.1%, to $54.69, and Ballard Power Systems slid three cents, or 1.3%, to $2.35.

On the economic docket, building permits in Canada surged 22.1% month over month to $12.4 billion in July.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 9.69 points, or 1.7%, to 570.60.

All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups gained by the close, led by gold, popping 4.7%, materials, jumping 4.3%, and utilities, up 2%. Health-care stocks were unchanged.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks rose on Thursday as investors continued to shake off a tough start to September and bought the dip in tech stocks in anticipation of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.

The Dow Jones Industrial index reversed earlier losses and picked up 235.33 points to close at 41,097.04.

The S&P 500 index gained 41.66 points to 5,595.79. The much-broader index has cut its September losses to just 0.9% and sits just about 1.3% from a new record.

The NASDAQ hiked 174.15 points, or 1%, to 17,569.68.

Shares of megacap tech and semiconductor names continued to rally on Thursday, boosting the market during afternoon trading. Artificial intelligence powerhouse Nvidia jumped 2.5%, while Alphabet gained 2% and Facebook parent Meta Platforms improved 2.6%.

The latest producer price index, which measures the average change in prices businesses receive for their goods and services, reflected a 0.2% rise in wholesale prices in August. That’s in line with expectations.

Weekly jobless claims data released Thursday also reflected a marginal increase in the number of individuals filing for unemployment benefits, rising to 230,000 for the week ending on Sept. 7.

The report follows consumer inflation data released Wednesday — which an uptick in core prices. These strip out volatile food and energy categories. The reading spooked investors hoping for a half-percentage point cut from the Federal Reserve at its meeting next week.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, raising yields up to 3.68% from Wednesday’s 3.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices gained $1.92 to $69.23 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices hiked $44.90 to $2,587.30.

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