Six in a Row for Bay Street led by Financials

Roger Biduk writes:

The Toronto stock market soared more than 500 points Friday, led by a big jump in bank stocks ahead of a wave of earnings reports next week.
The S&P/TSX composite index ran ahead for a sixth straight session, up 516.85 points or 5.9 per cent to 9,270.62.
The main index rose 1,116 points or almost 14 per cent this week as investors also snapped up beaten-down commodity stocks.
The TSX Venture Exchange rose 18.39 points to 766.62.

The CDN$ was down 0.39 cent to 80.84 cents U.S. as Prime Minister Stephen Harper has guaranteed the survival of his minority Conservative government for at least another week by pushing back a confidence vote.
Opposition leaders were expected to spend the weekend negotiating the details of a parallel government that could wrest power from the Tories less than two months after the Oct. 14 general election.

The TSX financial sector rose 12 per cent as investors feel better about earnings coming out next week from most of the big banks. Four of the big six prepared investors with pre-earnings writedown warnings.
Royal Bank (TSX:RY), which reports Thursday, gained $4.30 or 11 per cent to $43.18 while Scotiabank (TSX:BNS), releasing results Tuesday, advanced $4.25 or 13 per cent to $37.

Roger Biduk writes:
The TSX energy sector was up 2.55 per cent as the front-month crude oil price slipped a penny to US$54.43 on the New York Mercantile Exchange with OPEC officials sending mixed messages about a production cut before a regularly scheduled meeting in December.
Investors will be watching whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reduces output quotas at an informal meeting Saturday in Cairo, Egypt.
EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) improved $3.50 to $60 while Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) ran ahead $3.73 or 12.4 per cent to $33.73.

The telecom sector was up 4.35 per cent after two days of declines in the wake of the announcement by BCE Inc. that the takeover of the telecom giant by a group led by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is in serious jeopardy. BCE declined 28 cents to $24.95 - down sharply from Tuesday's close of $38.35 - while Telus Corp. (TSX:T) gained $2.53 to $39.22.

The base metals sector rose 0.8 per cent, capping a week of strong gains. Sherritt International bounded 57 cents or 20 per cent to $3.44.
Cameco Corp. (TSX:CCO) gained 50 cents to $22.15 after it said it is suspending production of uranium hexafluoride at its complex in Port Hope, Ont., as a result of "unreliable and expensive" deliveries of hydrofluoric acid.

On the TSX, advances beat declines 857 to 417 with 181 unchanged.

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