The TSX rose for a second straight day with broad based gains across the index.
Financials jumped 0.4 percent while energy was up 0.8 percent, and were among the 10 sectors in the green as Canada’s stock exchange climbed 133 points.
Also driving the exchange was a report from Statistic Canada that the nation’s economy grew for a seventh consecutive month, edging up 0.1 percent in August.
According to StatsCan, GPD growth was concentrated in oil and gas extraction and finance and insurance, which it noted “more than offset declines in 12 of 20 industrial sectors.”
The health care sector also moved up as cannabis stocks rose into the green for the second straight day. This comes after steady declines since marijuana was legalized in mid-October.
Aphria saw the biggest jump among the marijuana companies, up 17.9 percent after the company announced that it will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
And while the TSX gained today, October was truly frightening for investors. According to Bloomberg, the index had its worst month in seven years, with bank and cannabis stocks being the biggest drags.
In New York, a new batch of strong corporate earnings pushed up the Dow which jumped 241 points, while the Nasdaq also moved in a positive direction by climbing 144 points.
Positive earnings reports from Facebook and General Motors were among the catalysts for the index’s rally today after what has been a dismal October on Wall Street.
GM spiked 9.1 percent while Facebook was up 3.8 percent after both companies’ Q3 earnings reports topped expectations.
The Nasdaq spiked with big increases in bellwethers Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix, Tesla, and Microsoft.
A build-up of U.S. crude inventories caused the price of oil to slide $1.30 to $64.88 US a barrel.
Oil dropped despite American sanctions on Iran now just days away.
Meanwhile, the loonie and the price of gold also fell today.
The Canadian dollar weakened, losing 29/100ths of a cent to $0.7599 US while gold fell $8.90 to $1,216 an ounce.
