Canada's commodity-heavy main stock index retreated from record highs on Thursday, weighed by weakness in energy and mining stocks as well as dismal earnings from the country's largest cable television service provider, Rogers Communications.
The TSX Composite chucked 30 points to 21,158.19 by Thursday noon hour
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.18 cents to 80.95 cents U.S.
As for Rogers, its shares fell 87 cents, or 1.2%, to $60.39.
Elsewhere, Teck Resources doffed $1.01, or 2.9%, to $34.24 and lumber provider Interfor fell $1.52, or 4.8%, to $30.35.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported prices for new homes increased 0.4% in September, with prices up in 13 of the 27 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) surveyed.
The agency went on to say five CMAs saw a decline in new home prices, the largest number of CMAs with a price decrease since March 2020. Prices were unchanged in the remaining CMAs.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 11.08 points, or 1.2%, to 941.79.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups tailed off by midday, with energy down 2.3%, materials losing 1.5%, and communications dipping 0.5%.
The four gainers were led by information technology, up 1.1%, while industrials, ahead 1%, and consumer staples, better by 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks declined on Thursday after the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average retook its record high in the prior session amid solid corporate earnings.
The 30-stock index retreated 115.63 points to 35,493.71.
The S&P 500 lost 1.62 points to 4,534.55,
The NASDAQ Composite gained 38.35 points to 15,160.02.
IBM shares lost more than 7% following a revenue miss in the third quarter. Its top two business segments — global services and the Cloud & Cognitive Software business — fell short of estimates.
Tesla shares gained 3% after the electric-car maker posted record earnings and revenue in the third quarter that beat expectations.
American Airlines added about 1.5% after it posted a profit due to federal aid for the third quarter.
Corporate America has so far had a solid performance in the third quarter, even as inflation proves to be persistent. Of the 101 S&P 500 companies that have reported through Wednesday, 84% topped analysts’ earnings estimates.
The U.S. Labor Department reported 290,000 initial jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 16, which is down from the previous week by 6,000 and lower than the 300,000 estimated by economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
Investors are watching to see if jobless claims continue to fall, as the Federal Reserve has indicated it will start to normalize its monetary policy as the central bank nears its economic goals.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys fell slightly, raising yields to 1.66% from Wednesday’s 1.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped $2.23 to $81.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slumped $1.80 to $1,763.10 U.S. an ounce.
Stocks Step Back from Records by Noon
