Equities in Canada’s largest market rose at the open on Thursday, underpinned by a string of strong corporate earnings and as higher gold prices boosted miners of the precious metal
The TSX Composite Index recovered 66.72 points to kick off Thursday at 16,402.65
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.01 cents at 76.50 cents U.S.
Teck Resources beat expectations for quarterly adjusted profit, as strength in its energy and zinc units offset weak base metal prices amid a prolonged U.S.-China trade war. Teck shares gained 50 cents, or 2.3%, to $22.54.
Canadian Pacific Railway beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, driven by lower fuel expenses and higher shipments of coal, crude and fertilizers.
CIBC cut the target price on CP to $325.00 from $327.00. Its shares zoomed $8.16, or 3.7%, to $227.65.
Precision Drilling's loss narrowed for the third-quarter, helped by higher drilling activity across North America. Precision shares took on 4.5 cents, or 3.3%, to $1.43.
Agnico Eagle Mines reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by higher realized gold prices and gold sales volumes at its Meliadine mine in northern Canada. Agnico Eagle shares raced forward $2.98, or 4.2%, to $73.60.
Husky Energy reported a 50% drop in quarterly profit, as the company's refining margins came under pressure from higher Canadian crude prices fueled by Alberta's mandatory production curbs. Husky shares faded 34 cents, or 3.5%, to $9.18.
CIBC raised the target price on Genworth MI Canada to $57.00 from $48.00. Genworth shares vaulted 30 cents to $52.90.
RBC raised the rating on Rogers Communications to outperform from sector perform. Rogers shares recovered 64 cents, or 1.1%, to $61.64.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that an August, 453,200 people received regular Employment Insurance benefits, virtually unchanged from the previous month.
The agency goes on to say that there were increases in Quebec, of 2.8% and Prince Edward Island, of 1.6%, while there was a 1.4% decrease in Ontario
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 1.27 points to 544.31
All but two of the 12 Toronto subgroups were higher in Thursday’s first hour, as gold and materials each gained 1.8%, and information technology increased 1%.
The lone laggards were consumer staples, down 0.5%, real-estate dropped 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks opened mixed on Thursday, even as strong earnings from Microsoft and Tesla lifted investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 69.1 points to begin Thursday at 26,764.85
The S&P 500 gave back 1.46 points to 3,003.06.
The NASDAQ Composite Index advanced 23.3 points to 8,143.10
Microsoft reported earnings per share of $1.38 on revenue of $33.06 billion for the previous quarter. Analysts expected a profit of $1.25 per share on revenue of $32.23 billion.
Microsoft’s strong quarterly performance was driven in part by Azure, its cloud business, which saw revenues grow by 59% on a year-over-year basis. The stock rose 1.4%.
Tesla shares spiked more than 19% after the electric car maker posted a surprise quarterly profit. The company also told investors its new Shanghai factor is "ready for production."
Comcast, Dow Inc. and PayPal also traded higher on earnings that beat analyst expectations. Twitter, however, plunged about 20% after posting disappointing earnings.
More than 31% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly earnings thus far, with nearly 80% of them posting results that beat analyst estimates
Amazon, Intel and Visa are among the companies scheduled to report after the bell as investors slog through the busiest day of the earnings season.
In economic news, durable goods orders fell 1.1% in September, notching their largest drop in four months. The drop in orders comes as the world struggles with a global manufacturing slowdown.
The Institute for Supply Management said earlier this month that manufacturing activity in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in a decade.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury increased, lowering yields to 1.75% from Wednesday’s 1.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 12 cents to $56.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $5.50 to $1,501.20 U.S. an ounce.
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