Canadian Stocks Surge to Highest Level in 18 Months

Energy companies based in Canada helped the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index reach its highest level in 18 month, even though Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) and Bombardier (TSE:BBD.B) failed to meet expected results for the quarter.

Leading the way were energy stocks Canadian Natural Resources and Suncor Energy, both gaining a minimum, 3 percent as oil continues its upward climb, reaching its highest level in 17 months.

In Toronto the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 84.40 points to 12,123.13 a little before noon.

Suncor is the largest Canadian oil and gas company, and they have enjoyed a nice week, enjoying gains for the last four days. Shares of Suncor rose by 4 percent as of this writing, reaching C$34.36.

Canadian Natural Resources was also up by over 4 percent today, standing at $78.30 a share at about 1:30 EST.

Crude oil is the impetus behind the energy move, and it seems it is on a run that has some staying power for now.

This could easily change depending on the economic data that is released on a consistent basis, and a lot of it depends on whether or not consumers decide to travel a lot this spring and summer. If they do, this could be a trend lasting through the end of summer, if not, we could see a major pullback in prices. That will still take some time to work out, and won't be measurable until children are out of school.

Possibly this coming week where a lot of children in America are out of school for a week will offer a hint of the type of travel patterns that may emerge in the summer.