U.S. stocks soar on job creation hopes

U.S. stock markets soared Thursday but the Toronto Stock Exchange eked out only a small gain as American traders speculated that Friday's employment report from the U.S. government will show better-than-expected job creation.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index gained 2.90 points to close at 13,406.00.

In New York, the Nasdaq composite index, which reflects technology shares, came within one point of closing at a more than 10-year high, up 38.64 points, or 1.4 per cent, at 2,872.66.

Two major U.S. market gauges, the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 index, finished at their highest levels in nearly two months.

The Dow charged ahead 93.47 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 12,719.49. The S&P rose 14.00 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 1,353.22. The Canadian dollar rose against the greenback, up 0.75 of a cent to 104.31 cents US.

Oil prices got a boost from data showing that U.S. crude supplies fell more than expected for a second week.

The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up $2.02 to $98.67 US a barrel.

Gold up for third day

Worries about the European debt crisis helped push up the price of gold for a third day, as investors bought the metal as an alternative currency. The August bullion contract climbed $1.40 to $1,530.60 US an ounce.

Investors were encouraged by data from payroll firm Automatic Data Processing suggesting American private sector employers created 157,000 jobs in June, much more than the 90,000 economists had expected.

"A solid 150,000 jobs gain in tomorrow's payrolls report now seems to be in the cards," said BMO Capital Markets economist Robert Kavcic.

Economists have been estimating the unemployment rate will remain at 9.1 per cent and that employers will have added only 90,000 jobs last month.

Canadian employment numbers also come out on Friday and Statistics Canada is expected to report the economy created around 10,000 jobs in June.

At the same time, the U.S. Labour Department reported that the number of people who made first-time claims for unemployment benefits dropped to 418,000 last week, the lowest level in seven weeks. That's a sign that employers are laying off fewer workers.