Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday as health-care and energy stocks provided the biggest anchors
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid 28.67 points to greet noon ET at 16,455.54
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.19 cents to 76.42 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer was Air Canada, up 97 cents, or 2.2% to $44.42, as CIBC raised its price target on the carrier.
Alaris Royalty followed with a rise of 38 cents, or 1.9%, to $20.13.
Vermilion Energy fell 3.4%, the most on the TSX, after RBC downgraded its shares to "sector perform" from "outperform". Vermilion shares faded 92 cents, or 3.3%, to $26.67.
Alacer Gold recovered from earlier losses to pick up three cents to $4.81.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported 441,300 people received regular Employment Insurance benefits in May, similar to the previous month.
Lower numbers in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island were offset by increases in Quebec and Ontario.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eased back 1.76 points to 585.43
The 12 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided by noon hour. Gold sprinted 1.7%, while materials jumped 0.8%, and information technology advanced 0.3%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by health-care, slumping 2.2%, energy, slouching 1.6%, and consumer staples, 0.9% to the bad.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell for a third straight day on Thursday as Wall Street digested a mixed batch of corporate earnings results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 129.9 points to 27,089.95,
The S&P 500 shed 8.98 points to 2,975.44
The NASDAQ Composite fell 45.94 points to 8,139.27
Netflix shares plunged more than 11% after the streaming giant reported a surprise loss in U.S. subscribers coupled with slower-than-expected international membership growth. Those metrics — which are key for Netflix — offset a better-than-expected earnings per share result for the previous quarter.
IBM shares, meanwhile, briefly fell at the open before recovering after the company reported its fourth consecutive revenue decline. Declining sales from IBM’s IT division offset growth in its cloud business.
Morgan Stanley posted better-than-expected quarterly results, driven by its wealth management and fund divisions. The stock rose 0.5%.
So far, more than 12% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results this earnings season. Of those companies, nearly 84% have reported better-than-expected earnings
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury moved lower, raising yields to 2.07% from Wednesday’s 2.05%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost $1.78 at $55.00 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained $6.50 to $1,429.80 U.S. an ounce.
