Canadian markets maintained their momentum from Wednesday, thanks to some good news on the economic front, while U.S. stocks were held back by a negative report on blue chip General Motors Corp.

At midday Thursday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index moved up 39.84 points or 0.48% to 8396.16 after gaining 62 points Wednesday. The TSX Venture Exchange was up 3.63 points or 0.35% to 1479.93

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last up 15.19 points or 0.15% to 10132.26 while the Nasdaq Composite Index lifted 15.89 points or 0.86% to 1874.15 and the S&P 500 climbed 4.48 points or 0.41% to 1099.9.

The Canadian dollar jumped 0.19 of a cent to US 75.41¢ after Statistics Canada said the economy grew by a solid 0.3% in May following a slight advance of 0.1% in April.
May’s figure was below analysts’ estimates, but it still suggests the economy is on track for annual growth of 4%.

On Bay Street much of push was lead by financial and tech stocks. The TSX financial sub-index was ahead 0.83%, with help from gains by Manulife Financial (up 1.58%), Royal Bank of Canada (up 0.77%) and Bank of Nova Scotia (up 0.47%), among others. Tech stocks were ahead 1.04%, thanks to Nortel Networks, whose shares were up 4.5% in the usual heavy volume.

Energy shares were down 0.50% as oil prices eased, offering some relief, although they were still above the key US$42 per barrel level after hitting a record high in price during the previous session. Among the bigger movers were Petro-Canada, down 0.83%, and Suncor Energy, off 0.78%. Petro-Canada said Thursday its second quarter earnings declined 32%.

Crude-oil futures declined in early trading with the market relieved by comments from Russia that it doesn’t intend to halt oil production from Yukos. Traders were also reluctant to pull prices higher after a trek into uncharted territory in the previous session.

Yukos had warned the freeze could result in oil shipments coming to a halt within days, which sent oil prices up to record highs Wednesday. The order against the three production subsidiaries was in connection with Yukos’s overdue back taxes bill of $4.5 billion.

In Toronto, one of the biggest early decliners was CoolBrands International. Its shares tumbled 25% – on top of Wednesday’s 6% loss – after disclosing it had failed to extend a licensing agreement with Weight Watchers International. Volume Thursday morning was 3.9 million shares.

On Wall Street, stocks climbed into the black Thursday morning as strong earnings reports generated some investor optimism about the strength of corporate America but a brokerage downgrade on car maker General Motors Corp. kept the lid on things.

Oil company Exxon Mobil Corp, health insurer Aetna and chemical maker Dow Chemical Co. posted higher earnings on Thursday.

But General Motors weighed on the Dow after Goldman Sachs said it cut its rating on GM to “underperform” from “in-line” due to its expectations that the automaker will miss earnings forecasts in either 2004 or 2005 by a wide margin.

Wall Street is hoping put together a string of positive days by building upon Wednesday’s late-day surge and a big rally Tuesday to build a base of support after big losses over the past month.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues fell 87.53 points, or 0.78%, to 11,116.84. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 137.17 points, or 1.11% to finish at 12,183.1.

London’s FTSE 100 index moved 50.6 points higher at 4,406.8.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 jumped 1.7 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 was up 1.5%.