Equities in Canada’s biggest market eked out small gains in morning trade on Thursday, boosted by a bump in shares of Rogers Communications Inc after strength in its wireless business help it beat earnings expectations.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index held onto gains of 2.55 points to greet noon Thursday at 15,247.26, off its highs of the morning.
The Canadian dollar added 0.21 cents to 79.55 cents U.S.
That move was offset by a fall in shares of Hydro One, down 3.6% to $21.72 after the electric utility said it would buy rival Avista Corp for about $6.7 billion to expand into the U.S. Northwest.
Rogers rose 1.3% to $64.81 after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit on the back of strong growth in its wireless business that offset declines in cable.
Canadian Pacific Railway jumped at the open before turning lower, and its shares were last down 0.2% at $203.19. The rail company reported better-than-expected quarterly profit late on Wednesday but executives expressed concern about grain shipments for the second half of the year.
BlackBerry Ltd rose 0.9% to $12.90. The company said it had won the right to sell tools for encrypting phone calls and text messages to the U.S. government.
On matters economic, Statistics Canada reported that 525,300 Canadians received regular Employment Insurance benefits, down 12,800, or 2.4%, from April.
The agency says this continues a downward trend that began in late autumn 2016, reflecting the relative strength observed in the economy.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.14 points to 766.09.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive midday, with telecoms vaulting 1.1%, gold climbing 0.8% and consumer discretionary stocks up 0.5%.
The four laggards were weighed most by industrials, down 0.8%, energy, off 0.6%, and consumer staples, and 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities slipped from record highs on Thursday after Bloomberg News reported special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into the business dealings of President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner and other associates.
This comes a day after Trump warned Muller against it during an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrials backed off Thursday from its all-time high of Wednesday – dropping 45.31 points to 21,595.44.
Home Depot was the biggest contributor of losses on the index after Sears said it will sell Alexa-enabled appliances on Amazon. Sears shares shot up 20% on the news.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.72 points to 2,473.11,
The NASDAQ gained 3.4 points to 6,388.44, above Wednesday’s record high.
EBay, Microsoft and Visa are some of the major names set to report. Blackstone, Travelers, Philip Morris and Polaris are among the companies that reported earlier on Thursday.
Overall, most companies have reported solid quarterly results thus far in the earnings season. Of the 76 S&P 500 companies that have reported as of Thursday morning, 76% have topped earnings expectations while 74% have exceeded sales estimates
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose Thursday, docking yields to 2.24% from Wednesday’s 2.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gave back 31 cents to $46.81 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices surged $4.40 to $1,246.40 U.S. an ounce.
