The Canadian stock market remains firmly entrenched in positive territory at noon on Thursday, riding on strong gains in healthcare, information technology, industrial, utilities and energy sections.
The mood is bullish amid hopes of additional fiscal stimulus in the U.S. following the lawmakers certifying President-elect Joe Biden's victory. The Democrats' win in Georgia's Senate runoff elections now gives Democrats control of the House, Senate and the White House.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump said in a statement that there would be an "orderly transition" of power to Biden even as he continued his fraudulent claims of widespread voter fraud that helped spark the riot at the Capitol.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 153.06 points or 0.86% at 17,981.17, after hitting a new all-time high of 18,003.41.
The Capped Healthcare Index is up 3.2%. Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) is rising 8.75%, Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL.TO) is gaining 5.7%, Cronos Group (CRON.TO) is up 5.2%, Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) is advancing 3.2%, Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) is up 2.3% and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) is up by about 1.5%.
The Capped Information Technologies Index is up nearly 2%. Docebo Inc. (DCBO.TO) is gaining nearly 7%, Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) is up 6.2% and BlackBerry (BB.TO) is rising 4.3%, while Sierra Wireless (SW.TO), Lightspeed Pos (LSPD.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Photon Control (PHO.TO) and Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) are up 2 to 4%.
Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO), up nearly 14%, is the star performer in the industrials section. WSP Global (WSP.TO), New Flyer Industries (NFI.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Air Canada (AC.TO) and Snc Lavalin (SNC.TO) are up 1.3 to 4%.
Husky Energy (HSE.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Enerplus Inc. (ERF.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) are among the major gainers in the energy section.
Boralex (BLX.TO), Northland Power (MPI.TO), Brookfield Renewables Partners (BEP.UN.TO) and Transalta Corp (TA.TO) are among the top gainers in the utilities space.
Among financials, Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) is up 2.3%. Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) and Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) are gaining 1 to 2%.
On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed Canada's trade deficit narrowed to C$ 3.34 billion in November of 2020 from a downwardly revised C$ 3.73 billion in the previous month. Exports increased 0.5% to C$ 46.76 billion, while imports were down by 0.3% at $ 50.10 billion.
Western University's IVEY School of Business' Purchasing Managers Index for December dropped to 46.7 from November's 52.7, and down from the 51.9 figure in December 2019.
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