The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market cruised to a solid gain Wednesday and Dow Jones industrial average broke through the psychologically important 10,000 mark amid key earnings reports and a better than expected reading on retail sales in the United States.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 119.24 points to 11,532.78, while the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 for the first time in just over a year, surging 144.8 points to 10,015.86.

The Dow is now up 53% from its March low, but remains 29% below its peak of 14,164.53 hit in October 2007.

The TSX is up 52% since the lows of March 9.

The TSX found strong support from the energy sector as the bullish reports from the U.S. raised hopes for higher crude demand.

The sector gained 2.14% as the November crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved up US$1.03 to US$75.18 a barrel a day before U.S. crude inventory figures are released. Suncor Inc. (TSX:SU) advanced $1.66 to $40.36.

The financial sector was up 1.46% after J.P. Morgan Chase, the first of the big U.S. banks to report third-quarter earnings, reported a US$3.59 billion profit as it roughly doubled the amount of money set aside for failed home and credit card loans in the quarter.

“One thing you can take away from J.P. Morgan is that the capital markets divisions remain extremely strong,” said Eric Brass, equity analyst at MFC Global Investment Management.

“So that bodes well for banks like National Bank (TSX:NA) and Royal Bank (TSX:RY) in Canada that have a lot of their income geared toward trading revenue and capital markets income.”

J.P. Morgan gained US$1.50 to US$47.16 in New York while on the TSX, National Bank gained 55¢ to $58.70 and Royal Bank added 81¢ to $55.94.

The TSX tech sector enjoyed a 2.37% bounce as Intel reported after the market closed Tuesday that its profit and sales both dipped eight% in the third quarter as spending by corporations remained weak.

However, the results easily surpassed analyst forecasts, and Intel’s guidance for the October-December quarter also topped projections. Intel shares gained 34¢ to US$20.83 while in Toronto, CGI Group (TSX:GIB.A) rose 43¢ to $13.78.

“The results are very significant as they act as a bellwether for technology demand among both consumers and businesses,” Brass said.

“And it’s just more evidence that the consumer market is bouncing and it bodes well for consumer and capital spending.”

The Canadian dollar continued to edge towards parity with the U.S. currency, up another cent to US97.48¢.

A weakening U.S. dollar, higher commodity prices and positive Canadian economic data have pushed the loonie substantially higher of late. The loonie, which hasn’t matched the U.S. dollar since May 2008, gained more than 3¢ last week alone.

The TSX Venture Exchange rose 14.22 points to 1,336.5.

New York markets also racked up solid gains after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that retail sales dropped 1.5% last month as car sales plummeted following the end of the government’s popular Cash for Clunkers program.

Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.5%, beating the 0.2% increase analysts expected.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 32.34 points to 2,172.23 while the S&P 500 index was ahead 18.83 points to 1,092.02.

Elsewhere on the TSX, the base metals sector jumped 2.2% as December copper rose five¢ to US$2.8445 a pound and Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) was ahead $1.23 to $34.33.

The gold sector was down 1.22% as the price of bullion eased from Tuesday’s latest record close, with the December bullion contract on the Nymex down 30¢ to US$1,064.70 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) faded 64¢ to $43.76.

Shareholders are to launch a class-action suit against Novagold Resources Inc. (TSX:NG), claiming it failed to warn investors about the true cost and timing of its Galore Creek mining project. The suit is to be filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on behalf of all investors who acquired Novagold shares between Oct. 25, 2006 and Jan. 16, 2008. Its shares fell 41¢ to $5.89.

Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) shares were off 38¢ to $40.98 after it said Tuesday it plans to issue $1.25 billion in debt securities that will be used to reduce the liability related to the company’s floating spot-price gold contracts. Moody’s Investors Services later affirmed its rating for Barrick and assigned a Baa1 rating to the debt issue.

@page_break@Miner Pan American Silver Corp. (TSX:PAA) announced Wednesday it plans to acquire Aquiline Resources Inc. (TSX:AQI) on Wednesday in a deal valued at $626 million. Pan American shares fell $1.59 to $25.12 while Aquiline shares jumped $1.05 to $6.52.