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Dec. 2, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --
Toronto stocks remained in the green on Wednesday and finished at a 14-month high.
Traders looked to indications the economy on both sides of the border may be on a slow road to recovery.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index shot up 72.41 points to 11,779.73.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday in Winnipeg that Canada has started to turn the corner on the road to economic recovery.
Across the border, economic conditions have generally improved modestly in recent weeks, according to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.
Materials stocks and gold stocks have gained strength as the precious metal has jumped above $1,200 U.S. on the Comex. New Gold rallied 8.6% to $4.29, Seagold was up 4.2% to $29.61 and Barrick Gold climbed 4.5% to $50.35.
Goldcorp picked up 2.6% to $48.13 after the company announced its agreed to sell Desarrollos Mineros' 21.2% interest in the Morelos gold project in Mexico for to Newstrike Capital Inc. in a deal worth about $52 million. Newstrike stock dove 8.5% to 43 cents.
Among other materials stocks, Potash surged 5.6% to $128.48 after the fertilizer maker said will resume operation at a Sussex, New Brunswick-area mine on Sunday, following a temporary shutdown, according to the Canadian Press.
Agrium gained 5.7% to $63.11 after the company announced that it intends to nominate a slate of directors to stand for election at CF Industries Holdings 2010 annual stockholder meeting.
Enbridge said that it expects adjusted operating earnings of $2.50 to $2.70 per share for fiscal 2010, the midpoint of which represents about a 12% increase over 2009. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of US$2.53 per share for the year. The stock was down 0.6% to $46.24.
Descartes Systems Group dropped 0.2% at $5.58 after the company reported its third quarter net income declined to $988,000 or $0.02 per share from $2.32 million or $0.04 per share in the previous year.
Canadian National Railway slipped 0.5% to $56.03 after it made a new offer to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference or TCRC, in an effort to break the impasse with the TCRC and end the strike.
Research in Motion was up 0.3% to $62.80 after rival Nokia said it expects industry mobile device volumes in 2010 to be up about 10%.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.44 cents to 95.12 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, 10 ended the day positive. Materials led the way with a 3.2% hike, followed by gold, up 2.6% and global base metals, ahead 2.3%.
The four losing groups fell on the shoulders of consumer staples, off 1%, energy stocks, down 0.7% and utilities, down 0.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 11.30 points to 1,461.79, while the Nasdaq Canada advanced 4.82 points to 671.93.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks struggled Wednesday as investors sought more evidence that a recovery is taking hold, one day after the Dow industrials closed at its highest point in 14 months.
The Dow Jones Industrials tailed off 18.90 points to 10,452.68. The S&P 500 index gained 0.38 points to 1,109.24, while the Nasdaq was up 9.22 points to 2,185.03.
Mixed readings on the labour market, GM's management shakeup and record gold prices above $1,210 U.S. an ounce all played a role in the day's trading.
JPMorgan Chase, American Express, Chevron and Exxon Mobil were among the Dow's biggest losers.
The Fed released its periodic "beige book" reading on economic conditions in the nation's 12 districts. The central bank said economic conditions have improved modestly since its last report in the third week of October. However, labour market conditions remained weak and commercial real estate markets deteriorated.
General Motors chief executive Fritz Henderson resigned late Tuesday, and chairman Ed Whitacre said he will take over as CEO until a replacement is found.
Henderson worked at GM for 25 years and took over as CEO after the Obama administration ousted Rick Wagoner in March during GM's government-supervised restructuring.
Economically speaking, payroll services firm ADP said employers in the private sector cut 169,000 jobs from their payrolls in November.
Employers in the private sector were expected to have cut 150,000 jobs from their payrolls in November, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
In the prior month, 195,000 jobs in the private sector were cut, according to revised figures.
In a separate report, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said 50,349 jobs were cut in November, the lowest number in nearly two years.
Treasury prices slipped, boosting the yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.31% from Tuesday's 3.28%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil subsided $1.77 to $76.57 U.S.
Gold prices added another $13 to $1,213 U.S., another all-time record