Toronto stocks posted strong gains on Thursday, shrugging off dismal economic reports on both sides of the border.

The TSE 300 soared 98.91 points, or 1.44%, to 6,984.61.

Today’s gains were broad-based with 13 of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices advancing. Only the real estate sub-index posted a small loss.

Strong gains in financial services and industrial products drove today’s trading. Industrials closed up 1.18%, while financial services led with a 2.49% gain.

Market momentum was positive with advances outstepping declines 534 to 459. Volume was moderate at 105 million shares.

TD Bank rose $1.49 to $37.43. Bank of Nova Scotia gained $1.30 to $45.15. Both banks announced that they would not be increasing their loan provisions for the fourth quarter

Bombardier was the most active stock on the TSE. It fell 20¢ to $10.10..

Among tech stocks, Nortel gained 15¢ to $9.40, while Celestica gained $4.05 to $58.95.

Two of Canada’s major airlines posted gains. Air Canada rose 23¢ to $2.87. WestJet climbed $1.95 to $18.45 after releasing its third quarter results.

Trading was active on the Canadian Venture Exchange with 27.5 million shares changing hands. Although advances outpaced declines 205 advances to167 declines, the CDNX Index closed down 2.69 at 2,965.84.

In New York, markets were powered by a strong gain in Microsoft shares. The shares climbed on reports that it was close to settling its long-running antitrust dispute with the U.S. Justice Department.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 188.76 points to 9,263.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 56.10 points to 1,746.30.

The Canadian dollar continues to flounder. The loonie hit a new all-time low Thursday falling to US62.66¢ down 0.28¢ from its Wednesday close of US62.94¢.