Stocks on Bay Street traded deep in the red Thursday -- led by a drop in mining stocks -- as the price of oil fell and investors took in a mixed bag of earnings from both Canadian and US companies.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 331.79 points to 9,555.41.
Canadian Natural quarterly profit quadrupled on the back of higher oil prices but costs for its Horizon development project are rising. As oil prices are less than half their July peak amid the economic turmoil and lowered access to capital, spending plans for 2009 are expected to be leaner across the oil and gas sector.
Canaccord Capital Inc. has suspended its dividend while reporting a summer-quarter net loss of $5.4 million, down from year-ago earnings of $15.3 million. Canaccord, which disclosed a week ago that it is it is laying off 170 people or 10 percent of its workforce and is cutting senior executive base salaries by 10 to 20 percent, said today that revenue was down 30 percent at $110.8 million.
GMP Capital Trust is cutting distributions by more than half, eliminating 37 employees and trimming senior executive salaries by 10 percent after a 43 percent slide in third-quarter revenue to $74.8 million.
Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. says increased sales of prescriptions and other products pushed up its third-quarter revenues by 9.8 per cent to $2.8 billion. Net income rose to $162.5 million or 75 cents per share for the 16-week period ended Oct. 3, up from $141.7 million or 65 cents per share a year before.
Outside of Canada -- the Bank of England slashed its benchmark interest rate today by 1.5 percentage points to 3 percent. The size of the cut jolted financial markets which had expected at most a one-point reduction.
The European Central Bank quickly followed by cutting its policy rate by half a point to 2.75 percent. The Swiss National Bank also cut its key rate by half a point, to 2 percent.
On the data front -- Statistics Canada says municipalities issued $6.5 billion in building permits in September, 13.4 percent more than in August.
Down south -- the Department of Labor reported that jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 1 tallied at 481,000, higher then economists' estimate of 476,000. The previous week's figures were revised up to 485,000 from an initial tally of 479,000.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also announced that its preliminary read of nonfarm productivity came in at 1.1 percent, just ahead of analysts' forecasts but down substantially from 3.6 percent in the second quarter.
The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, was trading down 1.87 cents at 83.75 cents.
BAYSTREET
Only one of the TSX sub-groups closed higher today -- consumer staples stocks edged up 0.38 percent.
On the downside -- mining stocks shed 9.92 percent; energy issues fell 6.75 and gold issues were down 6.57 percent.
Gold futures fell $10.20 to end at $732.20 US an ounce, after jumping to $761.30 earlier on.
Meanwhile, the TSX Venture Exchange moved down 31.29 points to 920.13 while NASDAQ Canada stocks were off 44.66 points at 483.45.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks on Thursday thudded lower for a second day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing below 9,000 for the first time since Oct. 29, as investors braced for the October jobs report and a likely jump in the unemployment rate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 443.48 points, or 4.9 percent, to 8695.79, and the S&P 500 gave back 47.88 points, or 5 percent, to 904.89. The Nasdaq shed 72.49 points, or 4.3 percent, to 1608.70.
In corporate news -- Wal-Mart announced that same-store sales rose 2.4 percent in October, topping the retail giant's expectations. However, other retail reports were more dismal, with consumers holding back amid the weak economy.
Limited Brands Inc. reported same-store sales dropped 9 percent and Big Lots Inc. cut its estimate of third-quarter earnings.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. reported a 30 percent drop in quarterly net income late Wednesday. The media giant said it was hit by a large write-down and a decline in ad sales at its TV stations.
Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. plunged 32.7 percent after the casino company said in a regulatory filing it might default on its debt and face possible bankruptcy.
Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang, meanwhile, said late Wednesday that he's prepared to negotiate a new deal with Microsoft, according to a report by the Associated Press. Yahoo! had earlier this year rejected a takeover offer by Microsoft at $33 a share.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were mixed. The 10-year note was higher by 1/32, yielding 3.7 percent, and the 30-year was declining 11/32 to yield 4.19 percent. The American dollar was gaining on the euro and pound but falling vs. the yen.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures declined 7 percent, with oil for December delivery dropping $4.53 to finish at $60.77 US a barrel, after hitting a 19-month low of $60.16 a barrel during the session.
Related Stories
