Equities in Canada’s largest centre opened lower on Thursday, as financial and energy stocks fell on escalating trade worries and a dip in oil prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 102.26 points to start Thursday’s session at 16,274.51
The Canadian dollar forfeited 0.10 cents at 76.83 cents U.S.
Canadian Natural Resources reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, as production rose and the company earned more from per barrel of oil.
The shares, which trade under the symbol CNQ, dropped $1.09, or 2.3%, to $46.33.
Bombardier Inc posted a 7% rise in its most-watched measure of earnings in the second quarter, helped by rising sales at its train-making unit. Bombardier shares gained 16 cents, or 3.4%, to $4.91.
BCE Inc reported an 8% drop in quarterly profit on Thursday, hit by higher expenses as the Canadian telecom company invested heavily to upgrade its network and expand its customer base.
BCE shares dumped $1.12, or 2%, to $54.16.
RBC raised the target price on Dundee Precious Metals to $5.50 from $5.00. Dundee shares took on six cents, or 1.9%, to $3.24.
Desjardins revised its rating on Enercare Inc. to tender from buy, and raised its target price to $29.00 from $23.00. Enercare shares eased three cents to $28.87.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Stars Group to $52.00 from $50.00. Stars faded 32 cents to $42.98
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 1.67 points to 702.70
Eight of the 12 subgroups began the day negative, with energy falling 1.3%, telecoms off 1%, and consumer staples fading 0.8%.
The four gainers were led by materials, stronger by 0.7%, consumer discretionary stocks, up 0.6%, and gold, eking up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday as trade worries intensified once again after the Trump administration threatened to slap bigger tariffs on China.
The Dow Jones Industrials collapsed 114.24 points to 25,219.58, with Boeing and DowDuPont lagging.
The S&P 500 gave back 6.33 points to 2,807.03, as materials and energy underperformed.
The NASDAQ tailed off 0.43 points to 7,706.48, as Apple gained more than 1%.
Earnings season continued on Thursday with DowDuPont and Aetna reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Aetna's shares were flat, but DowDuPont's stock fell more than 1%.
Tesla shares surged more than 10% after CEO Elon Musk said the company would be profitable in the second half. However, Tesla posted a wider-than-expected loss for the previous quarter.
More than 70% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results through Thursday morning, with 78% reporting better-than-expected profits
The U.S. administration announced on Wednesday that President Donald Trump asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider increasing the proposed levies on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods up to 25%, from 10%.
Shares of big exporters Caterpillar dipped 0.4% and Boeing fell 1.1%.
The U.S. Labor Department said weekly jobless claims rose to 218,000. Economists polled by Reuters expected an increase to 220,000. The report comes after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, but upgraded its outlook on the U.S. economy to strong. It also comes ahead of the department's monthly jobs reports, scheduled for release Friday.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury did not move, keeping yields at Wednesday’s 3%.
Oil prices were up 28 cents to $67.94 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $3.80 to $1,223.80 U.S. an ounce.
