Stocks in Canada’s largest market faded into the red by noon Thursday, after scraping new all-time highs earlier in the day.
The S&P/TSX Composite dropped 24.31 points to greet noon at 15,805.91.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.32 cents at 76.28 cents U.S.
Loblaw's advanced 2.1% to $70.37 after reporting a sharp jump in profit and higher-than-expected revenue.
Suncor Energy rose 1.1% to $42.60 and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd also added 1.1%, to $38.58.
Crescent Point Energy Corp advanced 3.5% to $16.04, even as the company reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss as production fell about 6%.
Enbridge Inc fell 1.1% to $54.71. An outage on its Line 2A pipeline in Alberta will last about three weeks.
Goldcorp Inc advanced 1.5% to $22.52 and Barrick Gold Corp rose 1.3% to $26.44 as prices for the precious metal hit a three-month high.
Maple Leaf Foods Inc trucked higher 3.2% to $30.91. The meat packing company is hunting for acquisitions in the United States, after years spent upgrading old factories and shedding business lines.
The financials group gained, with Royal Bank of Canada advancing 0.4% to $98.86 and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce advancing 1% to $119.39.
CIBC said it would be "disciplined" in assessing whether to raise its $3.8-billion offer for Chicago-based PrivateBancorp and could step up stock buybacks if the deal collapses.
Among materials, First Quantum Minerals Ltd fell 2.4% to $14.85 and Potash Corp shed 2.2% to $23.92.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings for Canadian non-farm workers grew 1% in December from the month before to $971.00, a hike of 1.2% from December 2015.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stayed positive 4.04 points to 840.77
The 12 subgroups were evenly split, winning groups led by consumer staples, up 1.4%, energy, better by 0.8%, and gold, brighter by 0.7%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by industrials, off 1.1%, information technology, down 0.9%, materials, sliding 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mixed Thursday, with industrials lagging, on the back of remarks made by newly-minted Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 55.31 points above Wednesday’s all-time high to 20,830.91, with UnitedHealth gaining most.
The S&P 500 recovered 0.48 points to 2,363.30, with industrials dropping 1%
The NASDAQ slid 30.8 points to 5,829.67.
In corporate news, Tesla reported mixed quarterly results, topping revenue estimates but falling short of profit forecasts.
Meanwhile, Victoria's Secret parent company L Brands reported weak forward-looking guidance Wednesday after the close, sending its stock tanking more than 15%.
Weekly jobless claims remain near their lowest levels in more than 40 years.
Mnuchin told the media Thursday morning he wants to see "very significant" tax reform passed before Congress' August recess. The prospect of tax reform has been one of the key catalysts in the U.S. stock market's post-election rally, along with deregulation and government spending.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained, dropping yields to 2.39% from Wednesday’s 2.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked 78 cents to $54.37 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $17.30 to $1,250.60 U.S. an ounce.
