Energy stocks helped extend the TSX’s record-setting run Wednesday while U.S. stock markets rallied ahead of a holiday break.
The Toronto Stock Exchange closed at 16,628.49, up 209.21 points or 1.03 per cent.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average finished up 132.84 points at 24,085.71, the S&P 500 index closed at 2,647.71, up 13.69 points, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 0.41 points at 7,064.56.
The TSX had little economic news to drive the markets upward, but the TSX Venture Exchange was up 15.50 points at 1,533.60.
Regina-based snowmobile maker Arctic Cat says its fourth-quarter revenue increased 10 per cent, or US$23.4 million, to US$267.9 million, helped by improved sales in its snowmobile, side-by-side and ATV divisions.
The company said the revenue was ahead of the average analyst estimate of US$269.8 million. It also said net income in the quarter was US$4.7 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with a loss of US$4.9 million, or 13 cents per share, a year earlier.
In the U.S., New York auto sales totalled 17.2 million units last year — an all-time high — and analysts are forecasting another solid year, but 2019 sales are expected to cool off.
Meanwhile, sales figures released Wednesday showed U.S. retailers rang up a surprisingly big increase in their December sales, thanks to both online spending and sales during the one-day “Black Friday” shopping event on Nov. 23.
Sears Canada, meanwhile, reports it fell into the red in the fourth quarter, but its chief executive officer said the company has enough cash and could be sold within weeks, should a buyer emerge.