Equities in Toronto seesawed throughout Thursday’s session, but raised themselves yet again to keep the winning streak going, largely on the strength of health-care and gold issues.
The S&P/TSX Composite moved higher 7.75 points to conclude Thursday’s session at 14,848.24
The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.59 cents to 75.67 cents U.S.
In the health-care sector, Valeant Pharmaceuticals improved 23 cents to $29.18, while rival Concordia International ballooned 53 cents, or 11.2%, to $5.25.
Gold stocks lent strength to the market, as Iamgold Corporation climbed 22 cents, or 4.3%, to $5.29, while Kinross Gold moved up 15 cents, or 3%, to $5.18.
Among materials issues, Teck Resources heightened 30 cents, or 1.1%, to $26.89.
Industrials suffered the biggest losses of those who finished lower. Bombardier was unchanged at $1.78. Canadian Pacific Railway trailed Wednesday’s close $4.02, or 2%, to $193.39., while Canadian National went down 79 cents to $86.83.
Consumer staples also pointed south, as grocer Metro lost nine cents to $42.03, while Saputo backtracked 77 cents, or 1.6%, to $46.52.
Telecom were also off, as BCE ducked back six cents to $60.59.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that those drawing regular employment insurance totaled 563,000 in August, down 3% from the previous month.
This decrease followed a 5% increase in July, when legislative changes to the EI program came into effect. On a year-over-year basis, the number of beneficiaries was up 23,700, or 4.4%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 3.42 points to 785.98
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly split, as health-care and gold stocks each gaining 0.8%, and materials up 0.4%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by industrials, down 0.8%, consumer staples, falling 0.6%, and telecoms, backtracking 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks closed lower Thursday, after a sharp fall in oil prices, while investors parsed through key U.S. economic data, and digested a key European Central Bank decision on interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved lower 40.27 points to 18,162.35, with American Express leading advancers and Travelers the top decliner.
The S&P 500 dropped 2.95 points to 2,141.34, with telecommunications leading six sectors lower and health-care the biggest riser.
The NASDAQ composite index slipped 4.58 points to 5,241.83
In corporate news, earnings season carried on, as Dow components Travelers and Verizon both posted quarterly results. Travelers beat estimates on both earnings and revenues, while Verizon missed on revenue while beating on profits.
American Express reported better-than-expected results, sending its shares more than 10% higher. That said, eBay shares dropped more than 10%, despite beating Street estimates, after lowering its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter.
As of 9 a.m. ET Thursday, 79% of the 99 S&P 500 components that had reported beat Wall Street consensus estimates on earnings, while 63% exceeded expectations on revenues
In U.S. economic news, weekly jobless claims rose by 13,000 to 260,000, but notched their 85th straight week coming in below 300,000, the longest period since 1970. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Business Index for October came in at 9.7, below September's 12.8.
Other economic data released Thursday included existing home sales, which rose 3.2% last month. Leading indicators for September, meanwhile, rose 0.2%.
The ECB kept interest rates unchanged, as was widely expected. Facing high unemployment, weak growth and ultra low inflation, the ECB has provided extraordinary stimulus in recent years, cutting interest rates deep into negative territory and pushing the cost of credit to all-time lows, hoping to jump start growth.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were lower, hiking yields to 1.75% from Wednesday’s 1.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost $1.17 at $50.31 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slipped $2.80 to $1,267.10 U.S. an ounce.
