TSX leaps from starting blocks

Bay Street stocks took off like a Saturn rocket in early trading on Tuesday, following the lead of U.S. and European markets, amid restructuring talks between Dubai World and major banks that have eased worries over the Dubai credit crisis. The S&P/TSX Composite Index started the day 164 points, or 1.4%, higher, at 11,611.20 Resource stocks saw some strength as commodities have moved into the green. Gold extended its record high again. Copper is up 1.45 cents to $3.1945 U.S. and crude oil has added strength. Financials will also be in focus with big banks on the earnings calendar later in the week. Toronto Dominion, CIBC and National Bank are expected to report on Thursday with Royal Bank on Friday's agenda. In other corporate news, EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering, said Monday that it now expects net earnings for the first quarter to be $0.00 U.S. to $0.01 U.S. per share. Rutter reported net earnings for the fourth quarter of $310,000, compared to a loss of $18.40 million in the previous-year quarter. BSS II Ltd. announced that it has acquired nearly three million common shares of Insignia Energy under a Private Agreement Exemption with three separate parties. BSS paid cash consideration of $2.10 per common share of Insignia Energy. Canadian Pacific said it will make a $500-million voluntary payment to its pension plan as rival Canadian National Railway deals with a strike. On the economic front, traders will watch for key employment data from both sides of the border later in the week. Markets also got a boost on Tuesday as the Reserve Bank of Australia has raised the benchmark interest rates for the third straight time, as expected. The Canadian dollar tacked on a full cent to 95.72 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All 14 TSX subgroups were positive to begin the day and the month. Gold leaped 3%, followed by materials, up 2.9% and metals and mining, picking up 2.5%. The TSX Venture Exchange gained 13.34 points at the outset to 1,428.40, while the Nasdaq Canada advanced 10.52 points to 656.93. ON WALLSTREET In New York, equities opened higher Tuesday as global markets rebounded, gold neared the $1,200-an-ounce-U.S. mark and amid talk of a GE-Comcast deal for NBC-Universal. The Dow Jones Industrials picked up 107.62 points to 10,452.46. The S&P 500 index gained 11.62 points to 1,107.25, while the Nasdaq zoomed up 26.55 points to 2,171.15. The announcement by Dubai World, the state-owned entity that triggered the current crisis, that it is in talks to restructure $26 billion U.S. in debt sent global markets higher Tuesday. Also contributing to the rally: the Bank of Japan's decision to take action aimed at bringing down the value of the yen. General Electric is close to clearing a major hurdle in its path to sell control of entertainment giant NBC Universal to Comcast according to published reports Monday. GE has reached a tentative deal to buy Vivendi SA's 20% stake in NBC Universal for $5.8 billion U.S., the reports say. The tentative plan values NBC Universal at around $30 billion U.S., according to reports, setting the stage for a joint venture with GE, where Comcast would hold a reported 51% stake in what would be one of the world's biggest media companies. American International Group said on Tuesday that it is closing two transactions with the New York Fed that will cut its government debt by $25 billion U.S. Investors will be taking in several reports Tuesday. The busy day for economic news will start with three reports at 10 a.m. ET, including the ISM manufacturing index, which is expected to have fallen to 55 from 55.7 in October, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The reading would still indicate expansion in the sector. Construction spending for October is expected to have fallen 0.5% after rising 0.8% in September. The pending home sales index for October is expected to have fallen 1% after rising 6.1% in the previous month. Reports on November auto and truck sales are due later in the afternoon. In the evening, President Obama is expected to announce his strategy on Afghanistan in a speech at West Point, N.Y. Treasury prices dove, boosting the yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.24% from Monday's 3.19%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil gained $1.28 to $78.65 U.S. Gold prices added another $14 to $1,196 U.S.