Despite afternoon jitters that had briefly sent stocks into the red, major U.S. indexes ended Thursday with modest gains while Canada's benchmark sagged under the weight of falling commodity producers.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 11,146.57, up 38.60 points, or 0.4 per cent. The broader S&P 500 closed at 1180.26, up 2.09 points, or 0.2 per cent. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 12,599.23, down 50.69 points, or 0.4 per cent.
U.S. consumer stocks were among the biggest winners, following relatively upbeat earnings from a number of key consumer-related stocks. McDonald's Corp. rose 1.3 per cent, eBay Inc. rose 6 per cent and Amazon.com Inc. rose 4 per cent.
However, financials looked weak again, based on concerns that institutional investors could force some firms to repurchase some of the mortgage-related securities floated before the housing bust. In particular, Bank of America Corp. fell 3.3 per cent.
In Canada, gold stocks were weak after the metal's price slumped to $1,325.60 (U.S.) an ounce, down $18.60. Barrick Gold Corp. fell 0.8 per cent and Goldcorp Inc. fell 1.1 per cent. Meanwhile, energy stocks also fell after the price of crude oil declined to $80.56 a barrel, down $1.98. Suncor Energy Inc. fell 1.8 per cent.