Equities in Canada’s biggest market marginally recovered at opening trade on Thursday, which follows the biggest one-day decline in three years in the previous session.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered from Wednesday’s 375-point-plus fall, with a gain Thursday morning of 66.86 points at 14,975.99
The Canadian dollar shed two cents to 76.46 cents U.S.
Barrick Gold, which has agreed to a $6.1-billion deal to acquire Randgold Resources, reported a drop in third-quarter adjusted profit and revenue on Wednesday, hit by lower prices for gold and copper alongside higher fuel costs.
Barrick shares demurred 31 cents, or 1.8%, to $16.72.
Teck Resources reported a near 23% drop in third-quarter adjusted earnings as prices for the Canadian company's main products fell in the quarter.
Teck shares stumbled $1.42, or 5.3%, to $25.49.
Maple Leaf Foods reported a 29.3% slump in quarterly profit, hurt by lower pork prices. Maple Leaf shares fell $1.71, or 5.3%, to $30.87.
UBS raised the price target on Canadian National Railway to $117 from $115. CN shares docked a penny to $107.78
Canaccord Genuity cut the price target on Goldcorp to $19.50 from $21. Goldcorp jettisoned $1.69, or 12.4%, to $11.90.
CIBC cut the price target on Martinrea International to $18 from $20. Martinrea shares took on 21 cents, or 1.9%, to $11.08.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,006 in August, up 0.6% from July. Compared with August 2017, earnings rose 2.9%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 6.05 points to 647.87
All but two of the 12 subgroups were higher in the first hour, with industrials climbing 2.5%, health-care haler by 2%, and consumer discretionary stocks up 1.2%
The two laggards were gold, dulling in price 1.4%, and materials, off 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks jumped on Thursday as Wall Street tried to rebound from a tumble in the previous session that sent two of the major indexes down for 2018.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 174.76 points to 24,758.18, as Microsoft outperformed.
The S&P 500 acquired 34.23 points, or 1.3%, to 2,684.91, as communication services and tech both rose more than 2%.
The NASDAQ regained 146.07 points, or 2.1%, to 7,254.47.
On Wednesday, the Dow plunged 608.01 points, erasing all of its gains for the year. The S&P 500 dropped 3.1% and also turned negative for the year. The NASDAQ fell 4.4%, entering correction territory.
These losses added to the indexes' steep decline for the month. Through Wednesday's close, the Dow tumbled 7.1%, and S&P 500 was off 8.9% for October. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, had lost 11.7%.
Microsoft reported earnings and revenue for the previous quarter that easily topped analyst expectations. The Dow component rose more than 4.5% on the news.
Tesla, meanwhile, posted a surprise profit, sending its shares up by more than 7.5%. Twitter also surged more than 10% on better-than-expected results. Not all quarterly reports were good, however. AMD shares tanked more than 13% after the company issued weak revenue guidance for the fourth quarter.
Thus far, the corporate earnings season is off to a good start. S&P 500 earnings are up 24.8% so far, with 82% of the companies that have reported beating estimates.
The data also show that earnings growth forecasts for the first two quarters are holding up nicely. As of Thursday morning, S&P 500 earnings were expected to grow by 8.4% in the first quarter of 2019, up slightly from the growth reported on Wednesday. Expected earnings growth for next year's second quarter also increased to 6.5% from 6.4% on Wednesday.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury lost ground, raising yields to 3.13% from Wednesday’s 3.11%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices improved 38 cents at $67.20 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up two dollars an ounce to $1,233.10
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