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Dec. 21, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --
Canadian stocks surged on Monday, following the lead of markets in the U.S. and Europe. Strength in the mining and telecom sectors has led the way.
As the clock neared noon ET, the S&P/TSX Composite index roared ahead 113.66 points, or 1%, to 11,577.06.
Materials stocks gained with Potash Corp of Saskatchewan up 3.4% to $115.96.
Canadian fertilizer giant Agrium Inc. is sticking to its $5-billion U.S. takeover offer for CF Industries Holdings, Inc., but gave CF's shareholders another month to tender their stock. CF's board of directors has consistently rejected the proposed deal. Agrium shares were up 2.3% to $63.58.
In corporate news, mining equipment maker Bucyrus International Inc. said it will acquire Terex Corp.'s mining equipment division for $1.3 billion in cash.
On the economic front, Canadian retail sales rose 0.8% in October, according to data released on Monday morning. The rise, which was in-line with expectations, was the eighth in 10 months.
Revised data showed a 1.1% increase in September.
Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.2%, less than the 0.4% projected by experts and the 1% hike in the prior month.
Later in the week, traders will look for gross domestic product data from both sides of the border.
The Canadian dollar strengthened half a cent to 94.31 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were in positive territory, metals and mining stocks leading the charge with a 1.9% surge. Telecoms and energy were dead-heated, at 1.4% each.
Gold was down 1.6% while utilities fell 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 1.61 points to 1,428.59, while the Nasdaq Canada index moved forward 5.36 points to 744.88.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities surged Monday, with the Dow gaining more than 100 points, as aluminum giant Alcoa led a broad-based rally at the start of what is expected to be a quiet week.
The Dow Jones Industrials had gained 109.28 points, or 1.1%, to 10,438.17, while the broader S&P 500 surged 13.08 points to 1,115.55, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 25.93 points to 2,237.62.
Alcoa surged nearly 6% after the company announced a $10.8-billion U.S. joint venture with Saudi Arabia to develop a mining operation in the kingdom.
Shares of health care companies Cigna, Aetna and UnitedHealth Group all moved sharply higher after the Senate voted to end debate on revisions to a major health-care-reform bill, a key step toward finalization of the controversial legislation.
Bank stocks also posted strong gains. JP Morgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo all advanced more than 2%.
Technology shares rose after semiconductor giant Intel was upgraded by analysts at Barclays Capital.
The rally comes at the beginning of a holiday-shortened week on Wall Street. The stock market closes early on Thursday and will remain dark on Friday for the Christmas holiday.
Many market participants will take the entire week off, which means the number of shares trading hands will be low, and relatively small moves could cause major volatility.
At the same time, with the major indexes on track to post double-digit percentage gains for the year, many money managers have closed their books, while those that are still trading will probably avoid risky bets.
Still, investors are becoming increasingly confident in the possibility of a robust economic recovery next year, experts said.
Stocks finished higher on Friday after a choppy session, with technology shares rebounding. But most indexes fell over the final full week of trade in 2009.
Citadel Broadcasting Co., the nation's third-largest radio group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday. The company, which has stations in 25 states, listed liabilities of $2.5 billion U.S. on assets of $1.4 billion U.S., according to court papers filed in the Southern District of New York.
More than 60% of Citadel's secured lenders backed the pre-negotiated bankruptcy, which will allow Citadel to clear $1.4 billion U.S. of debt and convert $2.1 billion U.S. of its secured credit facility into a new term loan. The three largest unsecured creditors were JPMorgan Chase, Wilmington Trust Corp., and the Walt Disney Co. according to Sunday's filing.
Spyker, a Dutch automaker, said Sunday it had made a new offer to General Motors for the Swedish car brand Saab. GM had announced on Friday that it would let the car brand die after failing to reach a deal with potential buyers, including Spyker and Swedish carmaker Koenigsegg.
Spyker's offer is set to expire on Monday at 5 p.m. ET.
No U.S. economic reports are scheduled for release Monday.
Treasury prices dipped sharply, boosting yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.63% from Friday's 3.53%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil gained 14 cents to $73.50 U.S.
Gold prices subsided $10 to $1,102 an ounce U.S.