Canadian Stocks Are Adding To Yesterday's Gains -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is extending its gains from the previous session Thursday. The market rallied sharply higher Wednesday after the Bank of Canada unexpectedly lowered its interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.75 percent, from 1.00 percent. The rate has been unchanged since September 2010.

Every sector of the market is in the green Thursday. Energy prices are heading lower this morning, while the price of most precious metals are on the rise.

Markets in Europe and the United States are trading in the green, after the stimulus announcement from the European Central Bank monetary policy meeting. The widely expected quantitative easing measure was described by ECB President Mario Draghi as "an expanded asset purchase programme".

Under the plan, the combined monthly purchases of public and private sector securities will amount to EUR 60 billion, he said. The size of monthly asset purchases exceeded the EUR 50 billion reported in the press since Wednesday. The purchases are slated to begin in March and are intended to be carried out until the end of September 2016.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 111.37 points or 0.76 percent at 14,671.79. The index is slightly off the intraday high of $14,696.11.

On Wednesday, the index closed up 251.98 points or 1.76 percent, at 14,560.42. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,624.24 and a low of 14,266.24.

The Energy Index climbing by 0.42 percent. Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is up 0.47 percent and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is higher by 0.87 percent. Encana (ECA.TO) is gaining 0.43 percent and Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.TO) is adding 1.66 percent.

Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) is increasing by 0.58 percent and Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) is advancing 1.43 percent. Terra Energy (TT.TO) is also surging by 13.04 percent.

The Gold Index gaining 0.58 percent. Kinross Gold (K.TO) is down 0.23 percent and Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) is losing 2.25 percent. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is lower by 0.78 percent and

Royal Gold (RGL.TO) is up 0.80 percent and Goldcorp (G.TO) is up 0.60 percent. B2Gold (BTO.TO) is increasing by 0.37 percent. IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is higher by 0.77 percent. The company announced preliminary operating results for 2014 and guidance for 2015. Revenue for 2014 was $1.2 billion compared to $1.1 billion in 2013.

The Capped Materials Index is also up 0.88 percent. Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is gaining by 1.88 percent and Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is rising by 1.59 percent. Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is higher by 2.39 percent and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is advancing by 1.81 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT.TO) is gaining 0.76 percent.

The Diversified Metal and Mining Index is higher by 0.32 percent. Revett Mining (RVM.TO) is soaring by 31.87 percent and Orsu Metals (OSU.TO) is surging by 25.00 percent. Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) is also increasing by 1.09 percent.

HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) is down 1.22 percent and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is losing 1.58 percent. Teck Resources (TCK.TO) is down 0.21 percent. The Financial Index climbing 0.43 percent. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is increasing by 1.08 percent and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is higher by 1.22 percent. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is gaining 0.33 percent and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is climbing by 1.34 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is adding 1.77 percent.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is falling by 3.45 percent. The company agreed to acquire City National Corp. for $93.80 per share, approximately $5.4 billion.

The Health Care Index is up 0.33 percent. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX.TO) is rising by 0.64 percent and Catamaran (CCT.TO) is up 0.83 percent.

The Information Technology Index gaining 1.14 percent. BlackBerry (BB.TO) is climbing by 8.49 percent on reports that Samsung Electronics is still interested in acquiring the company.

The Capped Industrial Index is rising 1.51 percent. Bombardier (BBD-B.TO) is climbing by 2.08 percent and Air Canada (AC.TO) is up 1.02 percent.

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is gaining 1.31 percent. The company reported fourth quarter adjusted net income of C$2.68 per share, compared to last year's C$1.91 per share. Analysts expected earnings of C$2.58 per share.

Agrium (AGU.TO) is increasing by 2.89 percent. The company announced that it has increased its target dividend payout ratio to between 40 percent and 50 percent of free cash flow, an increase from the previous target of 25 percent to 35 percent of free cash flow.

On the economic front, the U.K. budget deficit increased in December from last year, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday.

Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks totaled GBP 13.1 billion, an increase of GBP 2.9 billion or 27.8 percent from last year. The deficit was forecast to fall to GBP 9.7 billion.

While the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a modest drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended January 17th, initial jobless claims still came in above economist estimates.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 307,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level of 317,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to slide to 300,000 from the 316,000 originally reported for the previous week.

In commodities, crude oil futures for February delivery are down $0.64 or 1.34 percent at $47.14 a barrel.

Natural gas for February is down $0.068 or 2.29 percent at $2.906 per million btu.

Gold futures for February are up $6.70 or 0.52 percent at $1,300.40 an ounce.

Silver for March is up $0.137 or 0.75 percent at $18.33 an ounce.