N. American Stocks Celebrate

Stocks in Canada and elsewhere throughout North America were solidly on the move, enjoying triple-digit gains, certainly in Canada, as real-estate strength pulled up the rest of the market in Toronto.

The TSX rocketed 287.89 points, or 1.4%, to conclude Thursday at 20,566.83.

The Canadian dollar regained 0.21 cents at 73.98 cents U.S.

Real-estate issues ruled the roost Thursday, with units of Interrent REIT galloping 48 cents, or 3.8%, to $13.29, while First Capital REIT units flourished 50 cents, or 3.6%, to $14.57.

In the industrial sector, shares of Ballard Power Systems sprang up 40 cents, or 7.4%, to $5.80, while Canadian National Railway chugged ahead $5.63, or 3.8%, to $156.49.

Materials were also more solid, with MAG Silver ahead 90 cents, or 6.3%, to $15.27, while Capstone Mining took on 33 cents, or 5.6%, to $6.18.

On the economic schedule, Statistics Canada said wholesale trade (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) grew 0.2% to $81.3 billion in July.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange jumped 4.31 points to 587.21.

All 12 TSX subgroups were positive, with real-estate climbing 2.7%, industrials popping 1.9%, and materials muscling up 1.8%.

ON WALLSTREET

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied the most in a month as traders cheered the revival of Wall Street’s IPO market and a decent batch of economic data.

The 30-stock index hurtled 331.98 points, or 1%, to wind up the session Thursday at 34,907.51.

The S&P 500 index gathered 37.73 points to 4,500.17.

The NASDAQ index hiked 112.47 points to 13,926.05.

Arm shares jumped after the chip design company started trading Thursday. Investors hope the biggest tech offering of the year could kickstart a sleepy IPO market. Arm’s initial public offering was priced at $51 a share Wednesday. It was last trading at about $58 a share.

Adobe is expected to post quarterly results after the market close Thursday.

The August reading of the producer price index came in hotter than expected. It rose 0.7%, more than the 0.4% increase anticipated by economists polled by Dow Jones. However, excluding food and energy, core PPI increased 0.2%, in line with the estimate.

That comes after August’s consumer price index on Wednesday showed core CPI, which excludes food and energy, was slightly hotter than expected.

August retail sales came in better than expected, jumping 0.6% against a 0.1% increase expected by economists. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.6% last month, more than the forecasted 0.4% increase.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury dropped, raising yields to 4.29% from Wednesday’s 4.25%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices added $1.84 to $90.36 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices faded $2.30 to $1,930.20 U.S. an ounce.


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