Toronto stocks ended higher Wednesday, while New York markets slid, as the price of crude oil hit a record high. The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 26.69 points, or 0.28%, at 10,509.72.

Volume on the senior exchange was 261 million shares.

Only four of the 10 TSX main groups advanced, led by 1.84% jump in the energy sector.

Crude oil surged $1.69 to a record US$67.40 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The spike came after a U.S. Energy Department report showed a sharp decline in the nation’s crude oil reserves. Crude prices late fell back to close up $1.61 at US$67.32 a barrel.

On the TSX, Encana Corp. shot up $1.21, or 2.34%, to $52.95.

Financial stocks gained 0.39%.

Shares of CIBC slid 27¢, or 0.39%, to $68.82, after the bank CIBC posted a third-quarter loss of $1.91 billion, plummeting from a year-ago profit of $596 million, due to the costly cleanup of Enron-related lawsuits.

In a separate announcement, CIBC said it will post a $244 million in after-tax gains in the fourth quarter from selling 6 million shares of Global Payments Inc. and about 1.8 million shares of Shoppers Drug Mart Corp.

Bank of Montreal shares rose 40¢, or 0.68%, to $58.90 after releasing weaker third quarter results yesterday.

TD Bank and National Bank of Canada release their quarterly results tomorrow. TD shares slipped 4¢ to $55.06, while National Bank rose 13¢ to $56.00.

Royal Bank, which is scheduled to report on Friday, gained 47¢ to $76.25.

In other earnings news, Bombardier Inc. reported its second-quarter profit soared to US$117 million, from a year-earlier US$23 million, after a big gain from selling some of the Bombardier Capital division’s operations. Bombardier shares fell 30¢, or 8.33%, to $3.30, as 17 million shares changed hands.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 3.88 points, or 0.20%, to close at 1,918.38.

On Wall Street, stocks sank after oil prices reached another record high and a mix of data provided conflicting views on the economy.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average fell 84.71, or 0.81%, to 10,434.87.

Broader stock indicators also lost ground. The S&P 500 lost 8.00, or 0.66%, to 1,209.59 — falling back into negative territory for the year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 8.34, or 0.39%, to 2,128.91.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported new-home sales soared to an annual rate of 1.41 million in July. The news came a day after a drop in existing home sales.

The same department also reported that new bookings for durable goods – big-ticket items expected to last at least three years – declined by 4.9% in July from the previous month. It marked the biggest drop since January 2004 and was much higher than the 1.2% slip economists had expected.