There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway.
Canada's main stock index reached record highs on a broad rally led by the strength of the financial and energy sectors as the price of oil climbed past US$82 per barrel.
"Great day, on the heels of a great day yesterday," Allan Small, senior investment adviser at IA Private Wealth, said Friday.
"It looks like we're on a bit of a roll coming out of the September funk."
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 108.16 points to 20,928.10 after reaching an intraday high of 20,969.36. The market climbed 2.5 per cent over the Thanksgiving holiday-shortened week for its best performance since early March.
The Toronto market is up 4.3 per cent so far in October and 20 per cent year-to-date.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 382.20 points at 35,294.76. The S&P 500 index was up 33.11 points at 4,471.37, while the Nasdaq composite was up 73.91 points at 14,897.34.
The three main sectors on the TSX were "on fire" for much of the day, Small said, as the heavyweight financials sectors led, oil prices pushed energy up despite a drop in natural gas prices, and copper helped materials even though gold fell.
Financials gained nearly per cent with the Toronto-Dominion Bank up 1.8 per cent and Bank of Montreal 1.5 per cent higher as the banks moved up in sympathy with the U.S. banks that have reported strong quarterly results.
Positive signs from U.S. banks, such as improving loan loss provisions, may be echoed when Canadian banks report results next month.
"So just a general good feeling in the markets right now," Small said in an interview, adding that economic data such as U.S. retail sales were above analyst expectations.
He said there's a general sense that supply chain and COVID-19 constraints are getting better and inflation should start to abate a little bit.
"If that is true, then we could see higher markets moving forward."
Energy increased as crude oil prices continued to march higher, helping to boost MEG Energy Corp. climb 2.1 per cent and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. gain 1.9 per cent.
The November crude contract was up 97 cents at US$82.28 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down 27.7 cents at US$5.41 per mmBTU.
The Canadian dollar traded for 80.78 cents US compared with 80.83 cents US on Thursday.
Materials was slightly higher with First Quantum Minerals Ltd. up eight per cent.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$1,768.30 an ounce and the December copper contract was up 9.8 cents at US$4.73 a pound.
Technology was one of seven sectors that gained on the day as shares of Hut 8 Mining Inc. surged 15.4 per cent as the digital currency miner benefited from the price of Bitcoin moving above US$60,000.
Small said Bitcoin has climbed on reports that the U.S. may soon offer a Bitcoin or cryptocurrency ETF that is already available in Canada.
He said markets posted great ends to another volatile week.
"And in my opinion, I think volatility continues. But I think we are higher come Dec. 31 than we are today. It's just going to be a bit choppy getting there, but I think we can still move higher before year-end."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2021.
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway.
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife’s edge.
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
The owner of three Calgary dogs that got loose and mauled a woman to death in 2022 has been ordered to pay a $15,000 fine within one year and banned from owning any animal for 15 years.
Some Ontarians are expressing frustration after they said that they were removed from their family doctor’s patient list for visiting a walk-in clinic in a process being called “de-rostering.”
Residents in Ottawa’s Elmridge Gardens complex are dealing with a rat infestation that just won’t go away. Now, after doing everything they can to try to fix the issue, they are pleading with the city to step in and help.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.