North American markets rose on the final trading day of the week.
On Bay Street, the TSX soared 142 points higher, propelled by strong corporate earnings and broad based gains across the index.
It was a sea of green, with all but three of the exchange’s 11 major sectors rising into positive territory.
The heavyweight energy and financials sectors led the way by jumping 3.2 and 1.2 percent, respectively.
Helping to lift Canadian energy stocks was another increase in the price of oil. Crude was up $1.35 cents to $55.76 US a barrel as tightening global supplies due to OPEC cuts and hopes of a U.S./China trade deal boosted demand.
Meanwhile, Canopy Growth’s stock was up 2.5 percent after the Ontario-based cannabis producer reported record net profits of $83 million in the third quarter, up a whopping 282 percent compared to the previous year.
It was also a good day for Air Canada, which added 3.6 percent as the airline’s Q4 profits beat estimates. Air Canada’s chief executive Calin Rovinescu noted “an improvement over last year’s fourth quarter on many fronts – including passenger revenues, traffic and yield.”
In New York, the Dow climbed 443 points while the Nasdaq added 45 points with optimism growing over progress in U.S./China trade negotiations. The economic superpowers are looking to hash out a deal, with talks continuing next week in Washington.
Capping gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq were slight drops in shares of Apple, Facebook, and Netflix.
And while a handful of key tech stocks declined, U.S. bellwethers Boeing, Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase climbed higher.
The Canadian dollar moved up 27/100ths of a cent to $0.7549 US while there was a hefty increase in gold prices, jumping $10.50 to $1,321 an ounce.
