The Toronto stock market dipped slightly at Thursday’s open, amid small moves in oil and metal prices while Spain and Italy were in focus as both countries dealt with higher borrowing costs.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index began Thursday off 23.61 points to 11,474.26
The Canadian dollar was up 0.53 of a cent this morning to 97.61 cents U.S.
In earnings news, travel and vacation company Transat A.T. Inc. posted a net loss of $13.2 million or 35 cents for its latest quarter. Overall revenue rose by $111 million to $1.2 billion due an acquisition in Transat’s North American arm, offset by lower selling prices and higher costs. Analysts had been expecting a smaller loss.
Montreal-based CAE Inc. has received a total of $65 million worth of orders for full flight simulators. Among the customers is the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, or AVIC. CAE will build a flight simulator to train crews for a new medium-sized transport aircraft that AVIC is building.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada noted this morning that its new housing price index kept its momentum going, climbing 0.2% in April, following a 0.3% hike in March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 6.94 points to 1,250.82. The Nasdaq Canada index demurred 0.57 to 365.30
All but four of the Toronto subgroups were down in the first hour. Information technology slumped 1.8%, gold sagged 0.7%, and materials suffered 0.5%.
The four gainers were led by health-care, 0.6% haler, while energy and real-estate inched ahead 0.1% each.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks opened mixed Thursday, as investors keep a wary eye on Europe and weigh several key U.S. economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials regained 74.62 points soon after the opening to 12,571.
The S&P 500 was 6.75 points better, at 1,321.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index improved 7.24 points to 2,825.85
Shares of cellphone maker Nokia dropped after the Finnish company announced it was cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide, and warned that competition in the smart phone business would hit results somewhat more than expected in the second quarter.
Shares of meat producer Smithfield Foods slipped after the company reported a bigger-than-forecast drop in earnings.
Shares of grocery chain Kroger rise after it reported a better than expected increase in earnings and a $1-billion share buyback program.
Worries remain heightened about Spain, after rating agencies Moody's and Egan-Jones both downgraded the country on Wednesday. Moody's, which left Spain's rating just above junk status, warned that it is at risk of additional downgrades. It cited concern about Spain's debt load, its bleak economic prospects and its access to credit in private markets.
The struggling country recently requested up to €100 billion from the European Union to recapitalize its ailing banks. But with the higher borrowing costs, investors are worried the country will need even more help.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Labor Department reported filing for initial unemployment benefits rose to 386,000 during the week ending June 9, up from the revised 380,000 the previous week. That was a higher than expected reading for that closely-watched snapshot of the still struggling jobs market.
The department also reported that retail prices fell 0.3% in May compared to April levels, driven down by the falling gas prices. It was the first drop in the Consumer Price Index in two years, and a slightly bigger drop than forecast.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged a mite, raising yields to 1.61% from Wednesday’s 1.60%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil dipped 11 cents to $82.51 U.S.
Gold futures for August delivery edged up $6.00 to $1,625.40 U.S. an ounce.
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