TSX seeks fifth straight gain

Bay Street stocks are up for a fifth straight session on Monday, led by strength in the key energy and financial sectors.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 89.33 points by midday, or 0.86%, to 10,479.09. The market is on target for its fifth straight winning session and best close since June 12.

Financials have added strength as Royal Bank is up 2.6%, Scotiabank has added 2.6% and CIBC has climbed 1.7%.

Energy stocks are also up as Suncor has risen 2.8%, Canadian Natural Resources is up 2.6% and Encana has gained 1.6%.

On the corporate front, Paladin Labs has added 2.5% after the company agreed to acquire a bundle of products currently marketed in Canada by Wyeth, including acetylsalicylic acid and benzocaine. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Tim Hortons is up 0.7% after the company has applied to become a Canadian company, in an effort to save taxes. The vast majority of the doughnut chain's nearly 3,500 restaurants are in Canada.

Bombardier workers voted to accept a new contract and avoided a strike. A total of 84% of workers voted in favor of the contract, according to Bloomberg. Shares are up 1.75%.

SNC-Lavalin Group has lost 3.7% as the company announced the pricing of an aggregate principal amount of $350-million 6.19% debentures.

Trading is expected to be light this week with Bay Street markets closed on Wednesday for Canada Day and U.S. markets closed next Friday for Independence Day.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.29 cents to 86.36 cents U.S.

ON BAYSTREET

Of the 13 TSX subgroups, all but two are in the black, with energy stocks 1.7% higher, followed by financials, up 1.6% and utilities, ahead 1.3%.

The two laggards were consumer discretionary stocks, off 0.5%, and real-estate, off 0.1%.

The TSX Venture Exchange faded 7.74 points to 1,103.82, while the Nasdaq Canada Index was off 2.46 points to 687.65.

ON WALLSTREET

In New York, a rally in oil, retail and technology shares lifted the Dow industrials Monday and helped the Nasdaq erase losses at the start of a holiday-shortened trading week.

The Dow Jones Industrials average approached noon up 83.36, or nearly a full percentage point, to 8,521.75. The S&P 500 index progressed 7.75 points to 926.65. The Nasdaq gained 9.97 points to 1,848.19.

Of the 30 Dow issues, 26 rose, led by Boeing, United Technologies and the oil components.

Climbing oil prices gave a boost to components Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other energy shares, while Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Intel paced technology gains.

Ahead of Friday's holiday, a slew of economic reports are due, including readings on housing, manufacturing and the labor market.

Stocks could benefit Monday and Tuesday from some end-of-quarter machinations as market pros look to "window dress" their portfolios before closing the books.

Also in focus Monday, Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

Enterprise Products Partners is buying fellow energy company Teppco Partners in a $3.3-billion U.S. deal that creates the largest U.S. publicly traded energy partnership.

Watson Wyatt Worldwide will merge with fellow consulting firm Towers Perrin in an all-stock deal valued at $3.5 billion U.S. The combined company will be called Towers Watson.

Treasury prices rallied, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note falling to 3.48% from 3.54% Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices shot $1.98 higher a barrel to $71.14 U.S.

Gold prices gained $2 an ounce to $941 U.S.