Equities in Canada’s largest market rose late Monday morning, boosted by solid gains for banking stocks, as investors cheered domestic data and French election results that limited the risk of another core member leaving the European Union.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index vaulted 104.49 points to wind into noon hour Monday at 15,718.97
The Canadian dollar ducked 0.05 cents at 74.11 cents U.S.
Financials got traction, as Royal Bank of Canada rose $1.41, or 1.5%, to $95.96, Toronto-Dominion Bank advanced 99 cents, or 1.5%, to $66.62 and Bank of Nova Scotia added $1.31, or 1.7% to $78.14.
Manulife Financial Corp rose 67 cents, or 2.9%, to $23.81 as U.S. and Canadian bond yields rose.
Home Capital Group shares fell a dollar, or 5.2%, to $18.25 after the country's biggest non-bank lender said founder and former Chief Executive Officer Gerald Soloway would step down from its board, days after regulators accused the company of making "materially misleading statements" to investors.
Home Capital's shares had fallen 20.7% on Thursday but gained 8.7% on Friday.
Barrick Gold fell 19 cents to $25.79, and Goldcorp declined 37 cents, or 1.8%, to $20.05. Barrick will report quarterly earnings after the bell, with Goldcorp due to follow on Wednesday.
Smaller producer Semafo fell 73 cents, or 18.5%, to $3.21, its lowest level in more than a year, after the gold miner reduced its production outlook for 2017.
The energy group was up as oil prices steadied after last week's sharp losses, while Precision Drilling Corp dropped 23 cents, or 4%, to $5.60 after reporting a smaller-than-expected rise in revenue as the rates customers paid to hire rigs fell despite increased demand.
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc advanced seven cents to $54.34. The company won a contract of undisclosed value from Saudi Aramco for initial engineering and design work to expand the gas-oil separation plant of the Berri oilfield
An OPEC and non-OPEC technical committee recommended on Friday that producers extend a global deal to cut oil supplies for another six months from June
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported Monday that February’s wholesale trade was $58.9 billion in February, down 0.2%, following four consecutive monthly gains.
The agency goes on to say that declines were recorded in four sub-sectors, led by lower sales in the personal and household goods and the food, beverage and tobacco sub-sectors.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 5.77 points to 819.15.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with financials climbing 1.4%, industrials up 0.9%, and consumer discretionary stocks taking on 0.7%.
The three laggards were gold, dropping 1.9%, while materials were off 0.7%, and real-estate issues faded 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities soared on Monday as investors cheered the results of the first round in the French presidential election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 192.45 points to 20,740.21, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 hiked 21.22 points to 2,369.91, with financials surging more than 2% to lead advancers.
The NASDAQ Composite hit a new all-time intraday high, rocketing 62.08 points, or 1.1%, to 5,972.60
Wall Street also braced itself for a busy week of earnings. About 200 S&P components are set to report this week, including Google-parent Alphabet, Microsoft and 3M.
Of the 95 S&P 500 companies that have reported as of Monday morning, 77% exceeded earnings expectations
That said, investors are also staring down the barrel of a potential government shutdown. Government funding will end Friday unless Congress can agree on at least a temporary funding resolution.
The last time the government shut down was Oct. 1 through 16, 2013.
Early results from the French election showed Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen advancing to a presidential runoff. Far-right candidate Le Pen and centrist Macron were largely expected to pull ahead in the first round of the French contest. The two had led most of the polls leading up to the election.
Le Pen and Macron will face off again on May 7. Most polls show Macron easily beating Le Pen in the second round.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell, raising yields to 2.28% from Friday’s 2.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 45 cents at $49.17 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dived $16.90 at $1,272.2 0 U.S. an ounce.
