TORONTO (CP) - Uncertainty over U.S. home loans and the credit market was put on the backburner Thursday as North American markets ended the day ahead based on positive earnings reports.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index moved up 158.88 points to 13,813.62 as nearly every sector posted gains.
Financial stocks rose 1.5 per cent after suffering major blows in recent sessions.
"The financials are down five out of six days on these worries . . . but they've been beaten up so badly that I think some people are coming in here looking for some bargains," said John Kinsey of Caldwell Investments.
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NEW YORK (AP) - Energy futures rose slightly Thursday as investors sorted through conflicting interpretations of data from a U.S. government inventory report.
At the pump, meanwhile, retail gas prices, which typically lag the futures market, extended their declines.
Analysts say energy investors are engaged in a tug of war over the meaning of Wednesday's weekly inventory report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. The report showed crude oil stocks declined by 6.5 million barrels last week, far more than the 690,000-barrel decline analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had expected.
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MONTREAL (CP) - Landing the world's largest retailer as a customer is a feather in the cap of Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSX:GIL) as it prepares to expand it burgeoning retail business as a driver for future financial growth.
In June, Wal-Mart became the second national U.S. chain to sell company-branded socks. Gildan launched its retail sales in March with shipments of socks to more than 8,000 Dollar General stores in 35 U.S. states.
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