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Stocks vault as Europe worries ease
(Baystreet Stock Market Update (Canada) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dow surmounts 13K
Canadian stocks advanced Tuesday after strong demand for Spanish bonds and lower borrowing costs eased concerns about Europe's debt crisis.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended Tuesday ahead 99.35 points to 12,136.94
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.94 cents, to 101 cents U.S.
Energy stocks gained support as Suncor Energy Inc. increased 2% to $31.42. Nexen Inc. shares climbed 2.4% to $18.90.
Energy Fuels Inc. shares jumped 18% to 30 cents, after the company said it will buy all of Denison Mines Corp.'s mining assets and operations in the U.S. in exchange for about 425.4 million shares valued at about $106 million.
The company said the acquisition will create the largest U.S. pure-play uranium producer with a 2012 production forecast of more than 25% of total estimated U.S. production.
Stocks in the financial sector traded mostly in positive territory. Manulife Financial Corp. rose 2.6% to $13.27. Bank of Montreal moved up 1.5% to $59.08.
Shares of Research In Motion Inc. gained 0.8% to $13.32, after Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said during his testimony in a San Francisco courtroom Tuesday that Oracle considered buying the BlackBerry maker, but it was too expensive.
Materials gained ground on higher commodity prices. Base metals producers HudBay Minerals Inc. rose 2.8% to $10.80. Kinross Gold Corp. shares were unchanged at $9.35 as gold turned higher after two days of losses.
Shares of Cameco Corp. rose almost 3.4% to $21.18 and Uranium One Inc. rallied 12.4% to $2.99 after J.P. Morgan initiated coverage of the uranium producers with overweight recommendations.
In the industrial sector, shares of aerospace and defense firm Bombardier Inc. rose 3.5% to $4.13.
Celestica Inc. shares were down 1.7% to $8.88 after Deutsche Bank lowered its recommendation on the company, which provides electronics manufacturing services, to hold from buy.
On the economic beat, the best change proved to be no change for Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, who again chose to keep the bank's trendsetting rate at 1%, where it's been since September 2010.
Elsewhere, Statistics Canada reported this morning that manufacturing sales edged down 0.3% to $49.1 billion in February, after slumping 1.3% in January. The agency also said that February new vehicle sales dipped 6.7% to 141,589 units, after a rally in January.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 10.15 points to 1,422.30, while the Nasdaq Canada index added 5.08 points to 406.62
All 14 Toronto subgroups ended the day in positive country. Energy issues occupied the top spot, gaining 1.3%, while information technology stocks leaped 1.1% and industrials moved forward 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks rallied Tuesday as worries about Europe eased and investors feasted on the latest round of earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrials rocketed 194.13 points, or 1.5%, higher to close at 13,115.50. The move higher pushed the blue-chip index back above 13,000, a key psychological milestone, for the first time in over a week.
The S&P 500 climbed 21.81 points to 1,391.38, and the Nasdaq recovered 54.42 points to 3,042.82
Following a 9% decline over five straight down days, shares of Apple rebounded more than 4%.
Despite its recent pullback, Apple remains one of the top-performing stocks this year, up more than 40% year-to-date. It has contributed more than 15% to the S&P 500's gains this year, according to Standard and Poor's.
Tuesday's broad market gains came as the International Monetary Fund boosted its global growth outlook to 3.5% for 2012, up slightly from a previous prediction of 3.3%.
The increase "reflects the IMF's view that the euro has stabilized since last year," wrote analysts at Wells Fargo Advisors in a research note.
The latest German economic sentiment index came in unexpectedly high, lifting the mood of investors, while an auction of Spanish 12- and 18-month treasury bills drew strong demand.
Investors were also encouraged by a solid batch of corporate earnings results.
Goldman Sachs beat expectations and boosted its quarterly dividend.
Coca-Cola shares rose after the company said its first-quarter earnings increased almost 8%.
While the company's profit margins continued to decline due to higher costs, Coca-Cola said it is managing by taking a number of steps, including raising prices.
Johnson & Johnson beat earnings expectations for the first quarter, but U.S. revenue declined more than 5%, sending shares lower. The company said sales of over-the-counter medicines were significantly impacted by the suspension of manufacturing at the McNeil Consumer Healthcare facility in Fort Washington, Pa.
U.S. Bancorp shares edged higher after the financial firm reported earnings and revenue that beat expectations.
Shares of renewable energy products maker First Solar climbed after the company announced it was reducing its global workforce by 30%.
Chesapeake Energy Corp announced Monday that its oil field services unit plans to go public as a separate company.
After the close, investors will get the latest numbers from Yahoo, IBM and Intel.
Yahoo is expected to announce earnings of 17 cents U.S. per share, while IBM is expected to post earnings of $2.65 U.S. per share.
Economically speaking, before the opening bell, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that March housing starts occurred at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 654,000, below expectations and down from February's rate of 694,000.
March applications for building permits, an indication of future construction activity, came in at an annual rate of 747,000, ahead of expectations and up from February's rate of 715,000.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury weakened, lifting the yield to 2.01% from Monday's 1.97%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for May delivery picked up $1.36 to $104.29 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery rose $1.60 to $1,650.30 U.S. an ounce.
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