Equities in Canada’s largest market made slight advances on Thursday, gains weighed down by weakness in energy stocks, while persisting worries about a slowdown in the economic rebound and rising COVID-19 cases further dented sentiment.
The TSX Composite regained 12.16 points, to begin Thursday’s session at 20,753.95.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.23 cents to 79 cents U.S.
Cenovus Energy has entered into agreements with its partners in the Atlantic region to restructure the company's working interests in the Terra Nova and White Rose projects.
Cenovus shares dropped seven cents to $10.57.
Scotiabank raised the target price on Pembina Pipeline to $42.00 from $39.00. Shares in Pembina slid 20 cents to $39.20.
National Bank of Canada raised the price target on TFI International to $158.00 from $144.00. TFI gained 48 cents to $139.97.
RBC raised the rating on Trican Well Service to outperform from sector perform. Trican shares sprinted 11 cents, or 4.4%, to $2.61.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange ticked down 0.24 points to 905.65.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups began the day lower, as gold slowed 1.5%, consumer staples slid 1.2%, and industrials staggered 0.9%.
The five gainers were led by information technology, soaring 0.8%, while financials and real-estate each fared better 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Thursday as the 30-stock average attempted its first day of gains in four.
The 30-stock index grabbed 148.57 points to 35,179.64
The S&P 500 picked up 12.33 points to 4,526.40
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 53.51 points, to 15,340.14.
Moderna shares rose 5% after the drug maker said it’s developing a single dose vaccine that combines boosters against COVID and the flu.
Some Big Tech shares such as Apple, Facebook and Amazon were in the green amid the economic uncertainty, boosting the NASDAQ a bit.
Shares of athletic retailer Lululemon surged more than 12% and furniture retailer RH rose 2% on the back of better-than-expected earnings. Lululemon also offered a stronger-than-forecast outlook for the third quarter and the year.
Market gains were capped as investors remained cautious as they try to discern what’s next to happen with the delta variant, the economic reopening and the Federal Reserve.
Several airlines on Thursday lowered their forecasts because of the resurgence in COVID. United Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines each gave cautious comments; however their stocks remained in the green.
Boston Beer tanked more than 6% after pulling its earnings guidance amid slowing growth in its hard seltzer brand. Meme-favorite GameStop dropped 7% even after the video-game retailer posted better-than-expected results. The retailer did not provide an outlook or grander turnaround plans.
The Fed meets on Sep. 21-22 and investors are worried the central bank will indicate a move to slow down its monthly $120 billion in bond purchases, which have kept rates low and boosted the recovery from the pandemic.
Also helping sentiment was a better-than-expected weekly reading on jobless claims. Initial jobless claims came in 310,000, which was below expectations of 335,000 claims. This marked another fresh low for the pandemic era.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained ground, lowering yields to 1.33% from Wednesday’s 1.34%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices ditched seven cents to $69.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stumbled $2.60 to $1,790.80 U.S. an ounce.
