TSX is in the pre-recession high

The Toronto stock market gained traction Wednesday afternoon as it pushed toward a post-recession high, backed by stronger commodities prices. The S&P TSX Composite Index stayed strong throughout the session, gaining 195.47 points, or 1.5%, to 13,148.35. That's nearly 100 points higher than the previously set post-recession high of 13,052 reached on Nov. 8. Prior to that, the TSX hadn't closed above 13,000 since September 2008. The close pulls the index to less than 15% below an all-time high of 14,666.07 reached in May 2008, pulling the market into a corrective phase. The loonie powered up 0.88 cents to 98.31 cents U.S. Shares in Barrick Gold Corp. were up 39 cents to $53.30. The December copper contract moved up 12 cents to $3.94 U.S. per pound. Shares in Teck Resources added $1.40 to $52.41. Investors are showing confidence in the financial sector, after National Bank became the first big Canadian bank to boost its dividend since 2007 on Tuesday after it beat expectations and reported its fourth-quarter profits grew 19% from a year earlier. The country's sixth-largest bank raised its quarterly dividend by four cents to 66 cents per share. Shares in the bank were $2.05 higher at $69.89. The other Canadian banks will report earnings later this week. Elsewhere, a report suggests Rogers Communications is in talks to buy the Toronto Maple Leafs in a deal worth more than $1 billion. Rogers shares lost seven cents to $36.22. Research In Motion is suing the makers of Kik Messenger, a free instant chat app that quickly went viral and acquired a million users in two weeks, for breaching contractual obligations. RIM shares slid 37 cents to $62.88. Sherritt International Corp. says it has reached an agreement with a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Ltd. to acquire a 57.5% equity interest in the Sulawesi nickel project in Indonesia. Shares in the miner were up 19 cents at $8.06. Contract drug developer Patheon said Wednesday it has let president and chief executive Wesley Wheeler go. Shares were up 8.4% or 17 cents to $2.20. ON BAYSTREET The TSX/Venture Exchange advanced 14.72 points to 2,087.16 while the Nasdaq Canada index picked up 5.44 points to 751.06 In Toronto, all 14 subgroups had a plus day, metals and mining gaining 4.1%, global base metals advancing 3.1%, energy up 2%. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks surged over 2% Wednesday as signs of economic strength in the United States and China tempered worries about the European debt crisis. The Dow Jones Industrials soared 249.76 points, or 2.3%, to end the session at 11,255.80 The S&P 500 surged 25.52 points to 1,206.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index leaped 51.20 points to 2,554.02 Economists at Goldman Sachs raised their forecast for U.S. growth next year to 2.7% from 1.9%. They also issued a brighter forecast for 2012, and said so-called "organic growth" -- that not driven by government spending or inventory rebuilding -- is strengthening. The improved outlook for U.S. growth overshadowed concerns about the debt problems facing some European economies. Those jitters were further eased by comments from the head of the European Central Bank, which raised speculation that the ECB is prepared to take additional steps to aid the European economy. Meanwhile, investors also welcomed robust readings on manufacturing activity in China, which helped lift shares of major U.S. multinationals, as well as companies in the industrial and materials sectors. All 30 Dow issues were higher. Caterpillar, United Technologies and 3M rose more than 3% each, while Exxon and Chevron both gained about 2%. IBM was also sharply higher. General Motors, fresh off its initial public offering, reported an 11% year-over-year increase in November new vehicle sales. Rival automaker Ford reported a 20% rise in monthly sales, while Toyota sales fell 3.2% in November. In the tech sector, Verizon detailed the company's 4G network launch. Shares of Bank of America were up 1.3% after the bank dismissed speculation that whistle-blower WikiLeaks had information that could be damaging to the company. BofA shares fell 3% on Tuesday. On the economic side, payroll processing firm ADP said private sector employers added 93,000 jobs last month. An index of U.S. manufacturing ticked lower, but continued to signal growth, while construction spending rose sharply in October. It marked the biggest gain in three years and came in much higher than the 58,000-job gain that was expected by a consensus of economists. ADP also upwardly revised its tally for October, to a gain of 82,000 jobs -- nearly double the previously reported gain of 43,000. The ADP report overshadowed an earlier report on planned job cuts in November from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That report showed that employers planned to reduce payrolls by 48,711 jobs last month, up 28% from October, but is still down 3.3% compared with November 2009. The improved outlook for U.S. growth helped overshadow concerns about the debt problems facing some European economies. Those jitters were also eased by comments from the head of the European Central Bank, which raised speculation that the ECB is prepared to take additional steps to aid the European economy. Meanwhile, investors also welcomed robust readings on manufacturing activity in China, which helped lift shares of major U.S. multinationals, as well as those in the industrial and materials sectors. Separately, the Institute of Supply Management's index of manufacturing activity edged down slightly in November to 56.6 from 56.9 the month before. Any reading above 50 signals expansion in the sector. A government report showed that construction spending rose 0.7% in October, beating analysts' expectations of a 0.5% decrease. The Federal Reserve's Beige Book, a snapshot of economic conditions across the central bank's 12 districts, showed that growth continued to improve in most U.S. regions from early October to mid-November. The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped sharply, raising the yield to 2.96% from 2.80% late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Oil rallied $1.83 a barrel to $86.76 U.S. The December gold contract gained $3.90 to $1,340 U.S. an ounce on the Nymex.

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