Toronto climbs on Chinese data

The Toronto stock market was higher Wednesday amid positive economic data.

The S&P TSX Composite Index broke for lunch Wednesday ahead 57.66 points, to 12,509.81

The Canadian dollar zoomed up 0.56 cents to 100.31 cents U.S., above parity with its American counterpart.

Manufacturing data on China, Germany, the U.K. and the euro-zone beat analysts' expectations. In the U.S., nonfarm private employment added 170,000 jobs last month, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc.

The technology sector was among the bigger gainers in Toronto, as shares of Bombardier Inc. rose 2.4%.

Elsewhere, Research In Motion Ltd.'s Barbara Stymiest, a week into leading a board that had faced investor criticism for being ineffective, said she plans further changes to the director lineup to help revive the BlackBerry maker. Shares of RIM were unchanged at noon at $16.72.

Among energy issues, Imperial Oil gained 10 cents to $47.88, while rival Suncor Inc. faded 17 cents to $34.37. The gold sector featured a 35-cent loss by Goldcorp to $48.15, and a two-cent dip by Barrick Gold to $49.44.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 8.34 points to 1,640.09, while the Nasdaq Canada index grew 5.34 points to 417.22.

All but four of 14 Toronto subgroups remained positive midday. Health-care stocks were 2.3% healthier, while information technology soared 1.6%, and the metals and mining group was 1.1% to the good.

The four laggards were consumer staples, down 0.7%, telecoms, declining 0.2%, and gold, off 0.1%.

ON WALLSTREET

In New York, stocks jumped 1% early Wednesday, driven by shares of banks and technology companies, as worries about Europe's debt crisis eased.

The Dow Jones Industrials reached noon ET ahead 137.33 points, or 1.1%, to 12,770.20

The S&P 500 gained 14.19 points to 1,326.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq galloped 32.59 points to 2,846.43

Financial stocks were leading the rally, with shares of Citigroup, Morgan Stanley Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase up between 2% and 4%.

NYSE Euronext announced early Wednesday that it will terminate its merger agreement with Deutsche Boerse. The proposed $10-billion U.S. takeover of the operator of the New York Stock Exchange would have created the world's largest exchange, but was quashed by European officials.

Pfizer is recalling one million packs of birth control pills, after the pharmaceutical giant discovered that some blister packs may contain an inexact count of inert or active ingredient tablets, and that the tablets may be out of sequence. Birth control pills typically have to be taken in sequence to be effective.

Shares of Tupperware fell after the company reported earnings per share that fell three cents U.S. short of forecasts. Hershey's shares edged lower after the chocolate maker reported
earnings and sales in line with estimates.

Whirlpool shares rose after the company beat Wall Street expectations on both earnings and revenue.

Broadcom's stock also got a boost after the semiconductor firm reported slightly better results and issued a brighter outlook.

Two years after its bankruptcy and U.S. bailout, Chrysler Group posted 2011 net income of $183 million U.S., its first annual profit since 2005. Although the company is no longer publicly traded, its results boosted shares of its competitors, General Motors and Ford

Shares of online retailer Amazon plunged after the company reported quarterly revenue late Tuesday that missed analysts' estimates. But the company beat profit expectations.

Traders said bank stocks were supported by expectations that a highly anticipated IPO filing by Facebook could signal a rebound in capital markets activity.

Meanwhile, the technology sector was supported by shares of semiconductor companies, which got a lift following strong quarterly results from Broadcom.

Shares of multinationals in the materials and industrial sector were supported by a weaker U.S. dollar, with Alcoa, Caterpillar and MMM all rising.

A key index of U.S. manufacturing activity came in slightly below expectations, but still signaled expansion in the sector. Earlier reports showed manufacturing activity picked up in China, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, investors welcomed signs that talks in Greece are progressing on a second bailout and a write down of the nation's private-sector debt load. In the bond market, yields on Portuguese government bonds eased after the nation drew strong demand for an auction of short-term bills.

Speaking of things economic, a report from payroll processor ADP showed that the private sector added 170,000 jobs in January. The report was expected to show that 200,000 jobs were added last month, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com, down from the revised gains of 292,000 the month prior.

The ISM Manufacturing Index for January is expected to stand at 54.5, up from 53.9 in December. Meanwhile, a report on December construction spending is expected to show an increase in 0.4%, versus the month prior.

Treasury prices for the 10-year note lost ground, hoisting yields to 1.83% from Tuesday's 1.80%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil for February delivery gained 13 cents to $98.61 U.S. a barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery rose $8.60 to $1,749.00 U.S. an ounce.