Toronto stock market gains for fourth straight day, Dow inches closer to 20,000

TORONTO – Strength in metals and materials stocks elevated Canada’s largest stock market for a fourth straight day on Tuesday, while markets in New York set new records.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index climbed 23.11 points at 15,292.96. The Canadian dollar was up 0.28 of a U.S. cent at 74.81 cents US.

On Wall Street, indexes were helped by rising shares in banks and travel companies. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 91.56 points to 19,974.62, reaching new heights and inching closer towards the 20,000 mark.

The S&P 500 rose 8.23 points to 2,270.76, while the Nasdaq composite also hit a record, climbing 26.50 points to 5,483.94.

Ben Jang, a portfolio manager at Nicola Wealth Management, says North American stock markets are continuing to show there is room for growth during the last full week of trading before the end of the year.

The rally kicked off following the victory of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 8 and has shown no signs since of letting up.

Investors have been encouraged by expectations that Trump will bring in policies that will bolster growth and investment in the U.S. economy once he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

But Jang cautioned that the markets may be getting ahead of themselves, because which policies Trump will actually enact remain a mystery.

“Although the economic outlook, particularly for the U.S. is improving, it’s not to the point where the markets are pricing it in,” he said from Vancouver.

“There needs to be more clarity in terms of reform to justify markets moving up to the 20,000 level of the Dow.”

Jang also noted that the uncertainty surrounding Trump will likely bring volatility in the new year, as it becomes more evident what Trump will, or can, actually do.

In corporate news, Waterloo, Ont.-based BlackBerry (TSX:BB) reported a third-quarter loss of US$117 million, its best showing this financial year. CEO John Chen said the company has now made the transition from a smartphone maker to a software company, and that revenue should grow next year.

The results come a day after it announced it plans on spending $100 million to develop secure software for autonomous cars. Shares in BlackBerry shed three per cent, or 32 cents, to $10.02.

In commodities, the January crude contract gained 11 cents to US$52.23 a barrel, while the February contract, which was trading at a larger volume, added 24 cents to US$53.30 a barrel.

The February gold contract fell US$9.10 to US$1,133.60 an ounce, January natural gas lost 13 cents to US$3.26 per mmBtu and March copper contracts were unchanged at US$2.50 a pound.

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