Equities in Toronto opened little changed on Thursday as investors stayed on the sidelines amid conflicting reports on whether the United States and China will agree a truce on trade at high-stakes meetings of their leaders this weekend.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 23.45 points to begin Thursday’s session at 16,288.77
The Canadian dollar nosed up 0.05 cents to 76.23 cents U.S.
Bank of Nova Scotia said on Wednesday it would sell its operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to Oriental Bank for $560 million in cash. Scotiabank shares gained 38 cents to $71.51.
Pieridae Energy says it will buy gas assets in Alberta from Royal Dutch Shell for $190 million, securing supply for its planned liquefied natural gas plant in eastern Canada. Pieridae shares were unchanged at 86 cents.
Canaccord Genuity raised the price target on Altus Group to $34.00 from $33.00. Altus shares ducked back 45 cents, or 1.4%, to $30.78.
National Bank of Canada cut the rating on Canadian Pacific Railway to sector perform from outperform. CP shares gained 69 cents to $307.11.
Credit Suisse starts coverage of Mega Uranium with neutral rating and a price target of $55.00. Mega shares were static at 9.5 cents.
On the economic blotter, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,023 in April, up 0.7% from March.
Compared with 12 months earlier, earnings grew by 2.9%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained a mere 0.03 points at 580.08
The 12 Toronto subgroups were evenly split, as health-care gained 1%, while consumer discretionary and information technology each climbed 0.6%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by energy issues, down 1.1%, while materials and utilities each sank 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 rose on Thursday, on pace to snap a four-day losing streak, as investors await trade clues from an upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 26.35 points at 26,510.47, as Boeing losses weight on the 30-stock index.
The S&P 500 gained 11.25 points to 2,925.03, as the financials and real estate sectors outperformed.
The NASDAQ Composite moved ahead 46.6 points to 7,956.57
Walgreens shares climbed 3.7% after the pharmacy operator reported better-than-expected quarterly results. The company’s numbers were driven by higher prescription drug sales, CEO Stefano Pessina said.
Boeing shares fell 2.6% after the Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that it has found an issue with the 737 Max that the manufacturer must address before it lifts the national grounding order.
Travelers shares slid 0.4% after an analyst at Deutsche Bank downgraded them to sell from hold, noting the company’s bottom line will take a hit in part because of tornado-related catastrophes.
On the data front, the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew at a solid rate of 3.1% in the first quarter. But some components like consumer spending and business investments grew at a slower pace than previously estimated.
Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan on Saturday. The two leaders are expected to discuss trade, with investors looking for clues on whether China and the U.S. can make progress towards ending their ongoing trade war.
China and the U.S. have been in a trade war for more than a year. The U.S. has imposed tariffs on more than $250 billion worth of Chinese goods. China has retaliated with tariffs on U.S. products. An agreement between Trump and Xi at the G-20 summit in Japan would avert the next round of tariffs on additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, felling yields to 2.03% from Wednesday’s 2.05%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up seven cents to $59.45 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices backpedaled $5.80 to $1,409.60 U.S. an ounce.
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