The Toronto stock market headed for a weak open Friday amid a sharp slide in oil prices and worries that the global economy is slowing faster than previously thought.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index plummeted 96.96 points to end Thursday at 11,816.91
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.27 cents to 98.31 U.S. early Friday.
In corporate news, Pengrowth Energy Corp. is reducing its monthly dividend payments to shareholders by 43 per cent to four cents a share starting next month. The Calgary-based company says it’s making the change due to weak commodity prices and increased uncertainty in the capital and property markets.
Canadian Pacific Railway says Tony Ingram has resigned as a director, the third departure from the CP board since the Calgary-based company's annual meeting in May. As a result of the departures and the addition of Hunter Harrison as director and chief executive officer of the company, the nominees put forward by Pershing Square have a majority on the 14-member board of directors.
Network technology company Sandvine Corp. had a loss of $4.2 million U.S. or three cents a share in its second quarter. But the bad news was tempered by more than $2 million in orders from one of the top 10 telecom providers in the United States, but it didn’t identify the customer. Sandvine had $18.6 million U.S. in revenue for the three-month period.
Economically speaking, figures released by Statistics Canada showed that in June, employment was little changed for the second consecutive month and the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 7.2%, as fewer people searched for work.
Compared to June 2011, employment increased 1.0% or 181,000. At the same time, full-time work was up 222,000, up 1.6%, while part-time work was little changed.
Elsewhere, the agency said that building permits were up 7.4% to $7.0 billion in May, a five-year high.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 15.45 points to 1,226.45. The Nasdaq Canada index dipped 0.33 points to 359.32.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock markets were poised to open lower as the government's monthly jobs report came in lower than expected, as an estimated 80,000 jobs were created in June.
Futures for the Dow Jones tumbled 67 points, or 0.5%, to 12,765, about 30 minutes before the opening bell, indicating a downward start to the trading day. Futures for the S&P 500 faded 7.4 points, or 0.5%, to 1,354, and for the Nasdaq, futures collapsed 9.75 points, or 0.4%, to 2,632.75.
The U.S. Labor Department reported the unemployment rate remained at 8.2%, indicative of how sluggish the U.S. economic recovery remains. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged, but they had expected more jobs in June: 95,000 jobs total, including 99,000 jobs in the private sector and a loss of 4,000 government jobs.
After a string of weak monthly jobs numbers, Friday's report could fuel argument for increased intervention by the Federal Reserve. It will surely be picked apart on the presidential campaign trail, as Mitt Romney and Barack Obama battle over who would do a better job in creating American jobs.
Meanwhile, governments around the world have increasingly become dependent upon action by central banks as the global fiscal crisis continues.
International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde said debt problems have spilled over borders. In her speech on Friday in Japan, Lagarde said the IMF will revise down its next global forecast, due in 10 days.
European stocks were slightly lower in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.1%, the DAX in Germany fell 0.4% and France's CAC 40 shed 0.4%.
Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite rose 1%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong ended barely in the red and Japan's Nikkei fell about 0.7%.
Oil for August delivery fell $1.56 to $85.66 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery dropped $12.90 to $1,596.50 U.S. an ounce.
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