Financial shares helped send the Toronto stock market sharply higher Thursday after four of the big Canadian banks handed in quarterly earnings reports that beat expectations.

New York markets were also higher on relief from the government's latest bond auction and durable goods data.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index charged ahead 250.21 points, or 2.5 per cent, to 10,392.37 with key support also coming from energy stocks as signs of higher oil demand pushed crude prices higher.

The TSX Venture Exchange was up 12.17 points to 1,105.16 while the Canadian dollar advanced 0.37 of a cent (U.S.) to 89.7 cents.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 103.78 points to 8,403.8.

The Nasdaq composite index added 20.71 points to 1,751.79 while the S&P 500 index rose 13.77 points to 906.83.

The TSX financial sector was 2.75 per cent higher.

"The main driver in the financial sector is the earnings from the banks and their numbers were pretty much across the board above expectations - although there were some hiccups with underlying issues with CIBC," said Jennifer Dowty, portfolio manager at MFC Global Investment Management.

In the U.S., indexes lifted after solid demand at a Treasury auction eased fears that the appetite for U.S. debt would dry up and force the government to pay higher interest rates to entice buyers. That in turn could endanger an economic recovery by driving borrowing rates higher.

The Commerce Department reported that U.S. home sales rose 0.3 per cent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 352,000, which was lower than expectations.

The Commerce Department also said orders for durable goods rose by 1.9 per cent in April, more than four times the 0.4 per cent increase that had been expected.

The TSX energy sector was up 3.5 per cent with the July crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rising $1.63 cents to $65.08 a barrel as U.S. government data showed a surprise drop in last week's crude inventories.

Also, OPEC decided to maintain current production levels unchanged at the end of the cartel's meeting in Vienna.

"They said they are already seeing an increase in demand, that's very encouraging," added Ms. Dowty.

"And some of the economic numbers lends to itself that crude over the long period is going to go higher."

The TSX gold sector rose 4 per cent as the August bullion contract moved up $5.80 to $963.20 an ounce.