Canada's main stock index opened lower on Thursday, with materials and technology shares leading losses, as risk appetite took a hit following a rise in crude oil prices and global government bond yields staying elevated.
The TSX lost 53.35 points to open Thursday at 35,698.08
The Canadian dollar sank 0.16 cents to 70.74 cents.
In company news, communications and software firm BlackBerry is scheduled to report quarterly results on Thursday. BlackBerry fell 28 cents, or 2.4%, to $11.56.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada says the number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer was up by 26,100 (+0.1%) in July, following three consecutive increases from March to June, totalling 124,200 (+0.7%).
On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 171,900 (+0.9%) in July.
Retail sales decreased 0.7% to $73.7 billion in July. Sales were down in eight of nine subsectors, led by declines at general merchandise retailers.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 14.88 points, or 1.6%, to begin Thursday at 909.85.
Seven of the 12 subgroups were lower, gold plunging 2%, materials sliding 1.8%, and consumer discretionary stocks off 1%.
The five gainers were led by energy, up 1.8%, consumer staples, ahead 0.8%, and financials, marginally richer, by 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday as Treasury yields kept marching higher, with traders anticipating further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. A pullback in Oracle weighed on tech.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 153.06 points to 51,358.53
The S&P 500 index lost 16.51 points to 7,689.52.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 148.41 points, or 1.1%, to 26.787.26
Oracle shares sank more than 5% after Bloomberg News reported, citing sources, that the company was citing force majeure in order to protect itself from a data center project being built in New Mexico if it is delayed.
The 30-year Treasury bond yield touched 5.446%, a level not seen since June 2004. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield, which is tied to rates on mortgages, surged to 5.15%, near levels not reached since July 2007. The two-year note yield was flat on the day, but scaled to a 2023 high earlier in the week.
Darden Restaurants, the parent of Olive Garden and LongHorn, shed $2.71, or 1.3%, to $210.98, on the back of its fiscal first-quarter results.
MGM Resorts International shares tumbled $9.33, or 9.3%, to $34.31, after Barry Diller’s People withdrew its proposal to buy the casino giant.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were stuck, keeping yields at 5.11%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained two dollars to $94.16 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices flopped $19.20 to $4,305.50 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
