Bombardier Inc. grabbed the headlines Monday, but it couldn’t spoil the party on Bay Street as Canadian markets posted solid gains. U.S. investors cheered Oracle Corp.’s long-awaited takeover of PeopleSoft Inc. and a better-than-expected survey of retail sales.

At close, the S&P/TSX was up 67.50 points or 0.75% to 9032.77 while the TSX Venture exchange advanced 8.59 points or 0.5% to 1722.97. The Dow Jones industrials surged 95.10 points or 0.90% to 10638.32. The technology-heavy Nasdaq gained 20.43 or 0.96% to 2148.50, while the S&P 500 was up 10.68 or 0.90% to 1198.68.

The Canadian dollar continued to slide, losing 0.14 of a cent to US81.47¢.

In Toronto, shares of Bombardier plunged after the maker of railcars and regional aircraft dismissed president and CEO Paul Tellier, effective “immediately.” Bombardier skidded 19% to $2.10 on volume of more than 90 million shares.

Dominion Bond Rating Service placed the ratings of Bombardier and Bombardier Capital Ltd. “under review with negative implications” to reflect the uncertainty associated with the departure.

The slide in Bombardier pulled the TSX industrials group into the red Monday, slipping 0.15%. It and telecommunications services, down 0.32%, were the only sectors in the red.

Gold, energy and technology shares were the big gainers.

Gold shares added 1.29% as the price of gold jumped — it was up $5 on the New York Mercantile to US$438.90.

Energy stocks added 1.15% as crude oil futures rose above $41 a barrel Monday as traders focused on OPEC’s planned production cutback and colder weather in the United States. Light, sweet crude for January delivery settled 30¢ higher at US$41.01 per barrel on Nymex.

Technology issues were spurred by the Oracle announcement, jumping 1.20%.

On Wall Street, inverstors welcomed the end of Oracle’s 18-month battle to take over PeopleSoft .

Oracle announced that PeopleSoft would accept a US$26.50-per-share bid, valuing the rival software company at US$10.3 billion. The agreement ends a long feud between the two that featured courtroom intrigue and pithy public statements, and cheered investors who feared the battle would distract the companies from their core businesses.

Wall Street also applauded the Commerce Department’s report on November retail sales, which rose 0.1%, better than the flat sales economists had expected.