Futures for Canada's main stock index pointed to a lower opening on Thursday, following a broad selloff in Asian and European markets after Apple cut its sales forecast of its first fiscal quarter.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 24.3 points to finish the year’s first session at 14,347.16
The Canadian dollar gained 0.26 cents at 73.61 U.S. early Thursday
March futures tumbled 0.9% Thursday.
Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow says the company is considering options for its stake in Acacia Mining including possible sale, as Barrick works to end a nearly two-year-long tax dispute in Tanzania that has effectively shuttered operations there,
Syncrude has been directed to pay $2.75 million after it pleaded guilty over the death of 31 blue herons at its oil sands site in northern Alberta, the Canadian province's energy regulator said.
Morgan Stanley cut the target price on Intact Financial to $114.00 from $118.00
Morgan Stanley resumes coverage on Lundin Mining with an overweight rating, and a price target of $8.70
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange leaped 13.8 points, or 2.5%, Wednesday, to 571
ON WALLSTREET
Technology investors are being warned of bad tidings Thursday, after Apple warned first-quarter sales would be less than it previously expected. The broader stock market will suffer too as the iPhone maker blamed a slowing Chinese economy for the shortfall.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 264 points, or 1.1%, to 23,061
Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 27.25 points, or 1.1%, to 2,483.75,
NASDAQ futures downed 116.5 points, or 1.8%, to 6,254.50.
Apple said it sees first-quarter revenue of $84 billion vs. a previous guidance of a range of $89 billion and $93 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $91.3 billion for the period, according to the consensus estimate from FactSet. Apple blamed most of the revenue shortfall for struggling business in China. But the company also said that upgrades by customers in other countries were "not as strong as we thought they would be."
Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Skyworks and Qorvo all dropped in pre-market trading on the Apple warning. Skyworks lost more than 5%.
This shouldn’t be a total surprise for investors, who punished tech stocks in the fourth quarter on fears that Apple’s business was struggling, especially in China. A number of analysts had come out and cut their estimates and price target on Apple last quarter. Apple dropped 30% in the final three months of 2018. The technology portion of the S&P 500 lost more than 17%.
Apple’s warning seemed to be having an effect on any company that does big business in China. Caterpillar shares were down more than 2% in pre-market trading. Boeing shares dropped 1.9%.
Overseas, in Japan, markets remained shuttered for holidays, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dipped 0.3%
Oil prices gained 41 cents to $46.95 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices took on six dollars to $1,290.10 U.S. an ounce.
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