Equities in Canada’s largest centre celebrated at the close Friday, with indexes climbing steeply, primarily health-care and energy concerns.
The S&P/TSX regained 339.28 points, or 1.8%, to end Friday at 19,056.40. On the week, the index gained 132 points, or 0.7%.
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.49 cents to 77.49 cents U.S.
Cannabis shares showed the way, with Bausch Health Companies jumping $1.74, or 18.4%, to $11.19, while Aurora Cannabis took on 16 cents, or 8.7%, to $2.01.
Energy also performed well, with MEG Energy hiking $1.20, or 7.2%, to $17.79, while Baytex grabbed 55 cents, or 9.9%, to $6.10.
In techs, Tecsys improved $3.92, or 11.9%, to $36.97, while Docebo gained $3.19, or 8.2%, to $41.91.
Statistics Canada reported its Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—measuring number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer -- increased by 126,000 (or 0.7%) in April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 15.54 points, or 2.5%, to 647.33, for a weekly gain of nearly seven points or 1.1%.
All 12 TSX subgroups gained ground, with health-care rocketing 5.8%, while information technology and energy each soared 3.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 800 points on Friday, rebounding off the lows of the bear market last week, and capping the first positive week in June.
The 30-stock index leaped 823.32 points, or 2.7%, to 31,500.68.
The S&P 500 hiked 116.01 points, or 3.1%, to 3,911.74.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ popped 375.43 points, or 3.3%, to 11,607.62.
The major averages are wrapping up a big comeback week for stocks. The S&P 500 is up 6.5% for the week, while the NASDAQ Composite gained 7.5% and the Dow is 5.4% higher.
Those moves followed the worst weekly decline for the S&P 500 since 2020. Last week, the broader market index closed down 5.8% for the week.
All three major averages were snapped three-week losing streaks, as market participants continued to search for a bottom. Still, many on Wall Street maintained a gloomy outlook.
Cruise line stocks led the S&P 500 gains. Shares of Carnival Corporation rallied 12.4% after the company reported booking volumes in its most recent quarter were “nearly double” the volumes in the first quarter, meaning the company saw its “best quarterly booking volumes since the beginning of the pandemic.”
Royal Caribbean Group surged 15.8%. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ gained 15.4%.
The financials sector was a notable gainer in the broader market index, up 3.8%. Several of the nation’s largest banks outperformed after the Federal Reserve released the results of its annual “stress test.” The central bank said companies such as Wells Fargo have strong pools of capital to weather a severe recession.
Wells Fargo’s stock price jumped 7.6%. Capital One popped 5.6%.
Shares of FedEx surged 7.2% despite a mixed fourth-quarter report after the logistics company delivered an upbeat earnings forecast.
Consumer sentiment hit a record low reading of 50 in June, according to a University of Michigan survey released Friday morning.
While on the surface that is not positive for the market, investors liked a figure inside the report which showed 12-month inflation expectations by consumers easing back to 5.3%.
Treasury prices were lower, raising yields to 3.14% from Thursday’s 3.09%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices soared $3.21 to $107.48 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $2.90 to $1,826.90 U.S. an ounce.
