Stocks in Toronto recaptured some of their mojo Thursday, with energy and tech stocks providing much of the spark.
The S&P/TSX Composite finished the day with a gain of 376.83 points, or 1.8%, to 21,121.06
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.05 cents to 78.09 cents U.S.
Energy stocks showed the way, with Suncor leaping $5.01, or 11.9%, to $47.16, while Cenovus Energy popped $1.64, or 7.1%, to $24.91.
In the tech arena, Celestica prospered 99 cents, or 7.2%, to $14.60, with Lightspeed POS hiking $2.34, or 8.5%, to $29.86.
Industrials also advanced, Bombardier moving five cents, or 4%, to the good at $1.29, and TFI International taking on $5.02, or 5%, to $106.51.
But there were some weaklings among communication stocks, with Quebecor giving up 28 cents to $31.32, and Shaw dropping 22 cents to $38.34.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported the number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer—measured in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours as payroll employment—rose by 142,900 (+0.8%) in February.
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said Wednesday this country’s economy is overheating, creating domestic inflationary pressures, and higher interest rates are needed to cool things down.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 9.7 points, or 1.2%, to 818.43.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups finished in the green, with energy gushing 5%, information technology sprouting 2.6%, and industrials ahead 1.8%.
Only communications missed out, and not by much – only 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks roared back Thursday, following a strong earnings report from Meta Platforms, as the market sought to recover from this month’s sell-off.
The Dow Jones Industrials muscled up 614.46 points, or 1.9%, to 33,916.39.
The S&P 500 acquired 103.54 points, or 2.5%, to 4,287.50.
The NASDAQ Composite heightened 382.60 points, or 3.1%, to 12,871.53.
Despite Thursday’s rally, the NASDAQ is on pace for its worst month since March 2020, down 9.5%. The S&P 500 is down nearly 5.4% and the Dow is off by 2.2% in April, ahead of the last trading day of the month.
A slew of corporate earnings reports drove market sentiment Thursday, appearing to be a green light for investors to pick up beaten-down names.
Shares of Meta surged 17.5% following a beat on earnings, a sign that investors may see signs of relief in the beaten-up tech sector. Shares were down 48% on the year heading into the results.
Qualcomm gained 9.7% on the back of strong earnings, while PayPal rose roughly 11.5% despite issuing weak guidance for the second quarter.
Merck shares rose 4.9% and led gainers on the Dow after an earnings beat. McDonald’s, Eli Lilly and Southwest all closed higher Thursday after their quarterly reports.
Apple and Amazon both rose more than 4% ahead of reporting earnings after the bell.
On the downside, Teladoc plunged 40.2% after reporting weaker-than-expected results.
U.S. gross domestic product unexpectedly declined in the first quarter by 1.4% from the year prior, compared with the 1% growth expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
Some investors brushed off the economic contraction, citing the jump in prices and trade deficit as contributing the most to the decline.
Treasury prices gained back lost ground, lowering yields to 2.83% from Wednesday’s 2.84%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices grew $3.29 to $105.31 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $8.10 to $1,886.80 U.S. an ounce.