Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press
April 30, 2008 - 10:57 a.m.

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market jumped almost 200 points mid-morning Wednesday as oil prices revived following a big drop on Tuesday, offsetting data showing more deterioration in the Canadian economy.

New York markets were positive after data showed the U.S. thriftiness still registering some growth during the first quarter while General Motors Corp. handed in a quarterly loss that was smaller than expected.

However, trading was cautious ahead of the afternoon announcement on interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index moved up 188.53 points to 14,014.13 following a 260-point slide Tuesday.

The TSX Venture Exchange added 6.47 points to 2,439.36 while the Canadian dollar headed up 0.56 cent to 99.38 cents US as the American currency weakened.

Statistics Canada said the economy shrank by 0.2 per cent in February as wholesalers of motor vehicles and of building supplies bore much of the burden.

But there were also declines in retail trade along with oil-and-gas extraction and exploration.

“Canada’s system likely grew modestly in the first quarter with output in January/February posting a small increase referring to the fourth-quarter average,” said RBC senior economist Dawn Desjardins.

“Today’s report poses some downside risk to our forecast that the economy grew at a 1.2 per cent annualized pace in Q1. The combination of tighter credit conditions and weakening U.S. demand for Canadian exports points to the economy continuing to grow at a relatively subdued pace in the second quarter.”

New York’s Dow Jones industrials moved up 47.22 points to 12,879.16.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 7.95 points to 2,434.05 and the S&P 500 index was ahead 3.58 points to 1,394.52

General Motors Corp. reported a $3.3 billion first-quarter loss, due in part to a weak U.S. market, a strike at a major parts supplier and plummeting sales of sport utility vehicles and pickups.