Today on Stockhouse
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Matt Badiali of Growth Stock Wire writes about the importance of avoiding fly-by-night gold funds.
And, Chris Vermeulen believes commodities are in the final stages of bottoming.
Top Bullboards post: Writing on the International Wayside Gold (TSX: V.WYG, Stock Forum) Bullboard, dsmith39 advised: “I've seen this before. The first hole always has the most gold as they pick the best area to start, then price slides while waiting for the next results which almost always disappoints because expectations are so high, and then it dives. PEZ.TO had similar results and went to 3.5 but now is .93. Just warming people not to get caught up in the euphoria and stick to you're planned entry/exit points, don't chase it.”
Top Bullboard: International Wayside Gold Mines (TSX: V.WYG, Stock Forum) received the most reads and the most posts on a day its stock slipped 7%.
Top blog: littleguy123 discusses the significance of rising U.S. vacancies in his Outside the Market blog.
For news about small stocks that made big moves in Thursday’s trading, please read the Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report.
Word on Wall Street
"The Alcoa number that came out after-hours was surprisingly good, but we have a lot of major companies, including the financials, that will be coming out in the next couple of weeks," said Robert MacIntosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance Management, in an interview with Associated Press. "I wouldn't say we're in the clear."
| Selected expected U.S. earnings releases for Friday |
| (Consensus Estimates vs. Last Year) |
|
| Cantel Medical (NYSE: CMN) |
Q4 |
$0.22 vs. $0.16 |
|
| Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ: INFY) |
Q2 |
$0.50 vs. $0.56 |
|
Today In The Markets
Higher commodities prices helped Toronto stocks, while New York markets were up in a broad rally
|
| DJIA |
9,786.87 |
+61.29 |
 |
|
| NASDAQ |
2,123.93 |
+13.60 |
|
|
| S&P500 |
1,065.48 |
+7.90 |
|
|
| S&P/TSX |
11,484.51 |
+134.63 |
|
|
| S&P/TSX Venture |
1,306.18 |
+16.36 |
|
|
Toronto & New York (The Canadian Press) - The Toronto stock market ended Thursday with triple-digits gains, as a weaker U.S. dollar helped drive up commodities prices and sent the loonie soaring to its highest levels in more than a year.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 134.63 to 11,484.51. The Canadian dollar wrapped the day at 95.04, a gain of 0.91 of a cent, its highest closing level since Sept. 29, 2008.
A key factor behind the enthusiastic gains was a weakening greenback, which sent investors running for cover in commodities futures markets.
Gold prices have logged three consecutive sessions of record highs as a result. The December gold contract was up $11.90 to US$1056.30 an ounce. The TSX gold sector rose 0.6 per cent.
Also on the upswing was the energy sector, which climbed up 2.9 per cent, as the November crude contract rose $2.12 to US$71.69 a barrel.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials moved 61.29 points higher to 9,786.87. The Nasdaq composite index rose 13.60 points to 2,123.93 while the S&P 500 index gained 7.90 points to 1,065.48.
Please click here for the current U.S. and Canadian market summaries.
After-Hours News
PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP, Stock Forum)
The food and beverage giant reported after the close that its third quarter profit rose compared to a year ago, despite slowing North American beverage sales. The company said it earned $1.72 billion or $1.09 per share, against $1.58 billion or 99 cents per share in the comparable quarter a year ago. Revenues amounted to $11.08 billion, compared with $11.24 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings of $1.03 per share on revenue of $11.26 billion.
Paragon Pharmacies (TSX: T.PGN, Stock Forum)
The Kelowna, B.C.-based pharmacy company announced after the bell on Thursday that it would buy back and cancel up to 4,880,319, or 5% of its shares on the common market during the next year.