After trending lower over the past few sessions, Canadian stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Thursday.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index moved higher early in the session and climbed more firmly into positive territory as the day progressed. The index shot up 645.94 points or 1.9 percent to 33,964.33.
The rebound on Bay Street was led by consumer discretionary stocks, with the S&P/TSX Capped Consumer Discretionary Index surging by 2.9 percent.
Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) helped lead the sector higher, soaring by 9.5 percent after reporting better than expected first quarter results.
Significant strength was also visible among industrial stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent jump by the S&P/TSX Capped Industrials Index.
Shares of Bombardier (BBD_B.TO) skyrocketed by 20.6 percent after the aerospace company reported strong first quarter results and raised its full-year outlook.
Consumer staples, healthcare and technology stocks also saw considerable strength, with the tech sector benefitting from upbeat earnings news from companies like Qualcomm (QCOM) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL).
Buying interest may also have been generated in reaction to a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil, which gave back ground after soaring to its highest levels in four years despite lingering concerns about the Middle East conflict.
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Market Analysis
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.