Good economic news out of the United States along with positive earnings reports powered stocks higher on Tuesday.

The TSE 300 Composite Index jumped 71.09 points to close at 7,585.50.

Positive comments from General Electric and an encouraging report on the housing market fueled buying.

Overall, 12 of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices finished the day up. Gold and precious metals posted a 3.2% gain while the metals and minerals sector added 2.8%.

The session’s only losers were communications and media, off 0.47%, and pipelines, off 0.31%.

CAE slipped 5¢to $10.95 after the company announced a $390 million deal to buy SimuFlite Training International Inc. of Dallas.

One day after announcing their merger, insurer Sun Life gained 40¢ to $34, while Clarica added 80¢ to close at $52.85.

Telus fell 75¢ to $24.40 after warning that its operating earnings growth will be flat next year.

Shares of Transat A.T., the parent company of charter airline Air Transat, lost $1.30 to $7.80, after the firm said it would take a $90 million after-tax charge for a writedown on seven aircraft and other assets.

Power Corp. shares slipped $1.14 to 37.96, on news that executive Paul Desmarais is selling a large chunk of his shares. The firm said that Desmarais was selling his shares for financial and estate planning purposes.

The Sun Life-Clarica deal remains a hot trade. Clarica is up about 1.3% in active trading today. Sun Life is gaining today too. Banks are heading higher on hope that this deal may spell a return to bank mergers too. Royal Bank, TD and Bank of Montreal are all up in active trading.

Market momentum was broadly positive as advances outpaced declines 590 to 521. Market volume was moderate with 170 million shares changing hands.

The action was heavy on the Canadian Venture Exchange as 55 million shares changed hands.

The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed down 4.17 points at 975, with declines edging out advances 249 to 230.

In New York, the he Dow Jones industrial average finished up 106 points, or 1.08%, to 9,998, while the Nasdaq gained 17 points to 2,005 and the S&P 500 added 9 points to 1,144.

Among the major sectors, chipmakers and Internet stocks posted substantial gains while biotech shares pulled back.