Today in the markets
U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday after minutes showed some Federal Reserve officials favour an end to quantitative easing as early as this summer.
Canadian stocks racked up a solid gain for a second day amid further positive news from China which posted an unexpected trade deficit of US$800 million in March.
The S&P/TSX Composite was up 50.86points to 12,534.91, while the TSX Venture Exchange eased down 7.03 points to close at 1,047.74.
Active stocks included J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP, Stock Forum), which remained in the spotlight amid news that its CEO Mike Ullman has resigned from the board of upscale department store Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS, Stock Forum). J.C. Penney gained 1.1% to $14.09, while Saks was up 2% to $11.94.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB, Stock Forum) is offering advertisers a sharper way to aim ads at users based not just on their interests, but what they actually buy, sending the stock price up 3.7% to $27.57.
In Canada, a court in Chile has suspended Barrick Gold Corp.’s (TSX: T.ABX, Stock Forum) (NYSE: ABX, Stock Forum) Pascua Lama mine after indigenous communities complained that the project is threatening their water supply and polluting glaciers. Investor reaction sent Barrick down 8.6% to $24.81.
Bombardier Inc. (TSX: T.BBD.B, Stock Forum) was up 0.25% to $4.09 after Toronto-based Porter Airlines confirmed that it has signed a conditional deal to buy 12 of Bombardier’s new CS100 jets.
For news about small stocks that made big moves in Wednesday’s trading, please read the
Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report