Stocks in Toronto opened slightly lower on Thursday, with losses for banks and consumer stocks offsetting gains for resource sectors.
The S&P/TSX Composite began Thursday trading down 25.73 points to 14,520.81
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.16 cents to 76 cents U.S.
Barrick Gold reported a rise in second-quarter profit on Wednesday and said it plans to sell its 50%stake in a Western Australia mine to carve more from its debt.
The world’s largest gold company saw its shares amass seven cents each to $28.29.
Cenovus Energy posted a net loss of $267 million, or 32 Canadian cents per share, in the quarter, compared with a profit of $126 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.
Cenovus shares jumped 72 cents, or 4.1%, to $18.22.
Goldcorp on Wednesday reported a net loss of $78 million, or nine cents a share, in the three months to end-June. That compared with net earnings of $392 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of three cents a share.
Goldcorp shares faded 72 cents, or 2.9%, to $24.19.
Kinross Gold said on Wednesday it expected to suspend operations at a Chilean gold mine in the fourth quarter as it posted a second-quarter loss that exceeded forecasts.
Kinross shares dropped three cents to $6.58.
Maple Leaf Foods reported a quarterly profit, compared with a year-earlier loss, helped by higher earnings in its meat products business. The company reported net earnings of $31.4 million, or 23 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, compared with a loss of $7.5 million, or five cents, a year earlier.
Maple Leaf shares gained $1.09, or 3.7%, to $30.33.
MEG Energy reported a net loss of $146 million, or 65 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with a profit of $63 million, or 28 cents per share, a year earlier.
MEG shares moved back 24 cents, or 4.2%, to $5.47.
Suncor Energy reported a second-quarter operating loss of $565 million, or 36 cents per share. That was below the average analyst estimate of an operating loss of 26 cents per share.
Suncor gained 19 cents a share to $34.85.
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan found its net earnings fell to $121 million, or 14 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 from $417 million, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier.
Potash shares ditched 89 cents, or 3.9%, to $21.68.
Teck Resources reported net profit attributable to shareholders fell by more than three-quarters to $15 million, or three cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30. Excluding items, Teck earned one cent per share. Analysts had expected a loss of one cent per share.
Revenue fell nearly 13% to $1.74 billion. Teck shares hiked $1.05, or 5.5%, to $19.99.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly were $956 in May, up 0.2% from the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, average weekly earnings increased 0.9%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.69 points to 787.4
Eight of the 13 subgroups were positive in the first hour, as metals and mining gained 4.3%, energy was better by 1%, and utilities improved 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by information technology, down 1.3%, consumer discretionary issues, off 1.2%, and health-care, down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a range Thursday, the busiest day of the earnings season with reports from firms such as Facebook and Ford.
The Dow Jones Industrials swooned 62.49 points to 18,409.68, with Caterpillar leading decliners and UnitedHealth the top gainer.
The S&P 500 fell 4.54 points to 2,162.04, with telecommunications leading eight sectors lower and information technology and health care the only gainers.
The NASDAQ Composite moved lower 2.68 points to 5,137.13
Ford Motor posted quarterly earnings that missed expectations and said its full-year earnings forecast was at risk with U.S. auto sales expected to fall in the second half, Reuters reported. Shares briefly fell more than 9% in morning trade.
Shares were last about 8.5% lower, tracking for their worst day since January 2011.
Facebook reported quarterly earnings that soundly beat on both the top and bottom line, helped by better-than-expected ad revenue.
Shares briefly jumped 4% to hit an all-time intraday high and were last about 3% higher.
Apple was about 0.3% higher in morning trade Thursday.
Amazon.com and Alphabet are among those scheduled to report after the close.
In economic news, weekly jobless claims rose to 266,000. The U.S. advance June goods trade deficit was $63.3 billion, up from $61.1 billion in May.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell, raising yields to 1.52% from Wednesday’s 1.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 12 cents a barrel to $41.80 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $13.90 to $1,340.60 U.S. an ounce.
