Equities in Canada’s biggest centre slipped in early trade on Thursday, with energy stocks pushed down by falling oil prices and gold miners weighing heavily as bullion was pressured by rising U.S. rate hike bets.
The S&P/TSX Composite faded 37.66 points to open Thursday at 15,562.02, after a gain Wednesday of 200 points.
The Canadian dollar docked 0.1 cents at 74.78 cents U.S.
Toronto-Dominion Bank reported quarterly earnings ahead of market expectations, helped by a strong performance in both the United States and Canada.
Shares in TD deducted 60 cents to $68.90.
Canadian Natural Resources reported a quarterly profit that blew past analysts' expectations, driven by higher realized prices from North America and low costs.
Natural Resources shares gathered 98 cents, or 2.6%, to $39.44.
CIBC raised the target price on GDI Integrated Facility Services to $19.00 from $17.00. GDI shares improved 10 cents to $18.10.
Desjardins raised the price target on National Bank of Canada to $59.00 from $56.00 with a hold rating. National shares gained 39 cents to $58.05.
National Bank starts coverage on Shopify Inc. with an outperform rating, and an $80.00 target price. Shopify shares strode forward $1.52, or 1.9%, to $81.07.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported that our economy progressed 0.3% during December, as real gross domestic product rose 0.6% in the fourth quarter, following a 0.9% increase in the third quarter.
The agency goes on to say final domestic demand continued to decelerate, with ongoing weakness in business investment.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 2.81 points to 819.25
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative in the first hour, with gold off 1.6%, materials down 1.1%, and industrials slipping 0.4%.
The four gainers were led by financials and health-care, each up 0.3%, while information technology, inching up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities kicked off Thursday trading along the flatline as investors eagerly awaited social media company Snap to begin trading, while expectations of tightening monetary policy increased.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave back 10.62 points to 21,104.93, after Wednesday’s 300-point surge, with 3M contributing the most losses
The S&P 500 lost 5.34 points to 2,390.62, with energy leading decliners.
The NASDAQ slumped 13.81 points to 5,890.22
Snap priced its initial public offering at $17.00 a share on Wednesday, above the expected range of $14.00 to $16.00, giving Snapchat's parent company a valuation of about $24 billion U.S. Investors eagerly awaited the IPO as they looked for clues on the health of the
technology IPO market.
In economic news, initial U.S. jobless claims totaled 223,000, well below the expected 243,000. Last week's reading increased 6,000 to 244,000.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped, raising yields to 2.49% from Wednesday’s 2.45%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 71 cents to $53.12 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $10.80 to $1,239.20 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
