Canadian stocks started to climb out of a hole Thursday from a downward trend bottoming out on Christmas Eve. The main index was on track for its biggest one-day percentage gain in nearly three years, helped by gains across all major sectors.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index restored 385.02 points, or 2.8%, to end Thursday at 14,165.21
The Canadian dollar was down 0.23 cents at 73.44 U.S.
The post-Christmas festivities were led by tech shares, headed by Shopify, which climbed $17.09, or 10.6%, to $178.65, while BlackBerry strengthened 38 cents, or 4.2%, to $9.54.
The energy sector surged, thanks largely to Encana, jumping 97 cents, or 14.1%, to $7.87, while Suncor hiked $1.79, or 5%, to $37.32.
Consumer discretionary stocks performed well also, with Magna International vaulting $3.22, or 5.4%, to $63.18, while Canadian Tire progressed $1.68, or 1.2%, to $140.19.
Only gold stocks slowed things down a tad, as Barrick Gold held its own at $18.63, Kinross Gold dumped 14 cents, or 3.1%, to $4.39, while Agnico Eagle Mines deducted 10 cents to $55.47.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 4.37 points to 537.28
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, as information technology gained 4.7%, energy shot ahead 4.5%, and consumer discretionary stocks added 2.9%.
The one laggard was in gold, down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks closed higher on Thursday, adding to the massive gains from the previous session, after a strong surge in the final hours of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrials reversed fortunes and headed straight up, 260.24 points, or 1.1%, to 23,138.69,
The S&P 500 recovered 21.13 points to 2,488.83
The NASDAQ gained 25.14 points to 6,579.49
At its lows of the day, the Dow had fallen 611 points. The S&P 500 was off 2.8% and the NASDAQ fell as much as 3.3%
On Wednesday, the Dow rallied to close more than 1,000 points higher, its biggest single-day point gain ever.
The day’s gain also marked the biggest upside move on a percentage basis for the Dow since March 23, 2009, when it rose 5.8 percentage points. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ also notch their best gains since March 23, 2009.
President Donald Trump is reportedly considering an executive order to ban U.S. companies from using equipment built by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE. This executive order would come at a time when the two largest world economies are trying to strike a permanent trade deal. Earlier this month, China and the U.S. agreed to a 90-day grace period to come up with an agreement.
Shares of trade bellwethers like Caterpillar, Boeing and Deere all fell more than 1.5%.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, lifting yields to 2.79% from Wednesday’s 2.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank 70 cents to $45.52 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices climbed $4.50 to $1,277.50 U.S. an ounce.
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