Equities in Canada’s main market fell in early trade on Wednesday, led lower by energy stocks as oil prices fell for a third straight day on bloated U.S. supply and diminished Chinese demand, while bank stocks also retreated after recent gains.
The S&P/TSX Composite gave back 74.45 points to open Wednesday at 15,424.35
The Canadian dollar added 0.22 cents at 76.02 cents U.S.
The federal government on Tuesday announced $372.5 million in repayable loans for two of Bombardier's jet programs, promising to defend the deal against a potential trade challenge by Brazil.
Bombardier shares gained eight cents, or 3.1%, to $2.63
The union for workers at Canadian Natural Resources' Baobab and Espoir oil and gas fields in Ivory Coast launched a 72-hour strike Wednesday over employment conditions.
Natural Resources shares hesitated 36 cents, or 1%, to $37.63
CIBC raised the target price on Genworth MI Canada to $40.00 from $37.00
Genworth shares acquired $2.31, or 6.7%, to $36.91
CIBC raised the target price on TMX Group to $74.00 from $68.00
TMX shares fell 12 cents to $69.69
CIBC cut the target price on Westjet Airlines to $25.00 from $26.50
Westjet shares lost 15 cents to $21.54
In an in-depth letter to shareholders released today, Alberta’s Enterprise Group Inc. CEO Leonard D. Jaroszuk imparted his unique resource industry intel to investors; mainly that the resource sector appears to be steadily strengthening.
Jaroszuk noted that resource development budgets are up significantly for 2017; in some individual cases more than double 2016. Further, Enterprise management has significant skin in the game.
Throughout the downturn, management increased direct personal equity investment by 275%. As well, the new resource-friendly direction from the new U.S. administration appears to be signaling a major and ongoing boost to the sector.
Shares of Enterprise Group started the session unchanged at 30 cents.
On the economic front, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported this morning that its trend measure of housing starts in Canada was 199,834 units in January compared to 197,881 in December.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.95 points to 827.97
Six of the 12 subgroups began the day lower, as energy slipped 1.9%, financials dipped 0.7%, and information technology docked 0.6%.
The five gainers were led by gold, up 1.5%, materials, advancing 0.9%, and health-care, gaining 0.5%. Utilities were unchanged.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities fell on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to key oil data and digested a slew of earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials backpedaled 50.98 points from Tuesday’s all-time high to 20,039.31, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses. Apple, another Dow component, traded near its all-time high.
The S&P 500 skidded 3.82 points to 2,289.26, with energy falling 1% to lead decliners.
The NASDAQ fell 7.17 points from Tuesday’s all-time record to 5,667.05
Allergan, GlaxoSmithKline, Time Warner and Alaska Air are among the major companies that reported earnings before the bell. Whole Foods, CenturyLink, Fiserv and Prudential Financial are all due to report after the market close.
Dow component Walt Disney posted mixed quarterly results Tuesday after the close, as earnings per share topped analyst expectations while sales fell short.
Crude prices for March delivery fell in price (see below), with the U.s. Energy Information Administration scheduled to report weekly inventories. The American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday that inventories rose by 14.2 million barrels the week of Feb. 3, sharply above the expected 2.5-million barrels increase.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note strengthened, lowering yields to 2.35% from Tuesday’s 2.4%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 43 cents to $51.74 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $6.80 to $1,242.90 U.S. an ounce.
