Canada’s main stock index rose on Thursday as gains in shares of gold miners and a string of positive earnings helped offset a drop in Husky Energy following disappointing results.
The TSX Composite Index retained 42.16 points worth of gains to greet noon Thursday at 16,378.09
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.04 cents at 76.45 cents U.S.
Better-than-expected results from Canadian Pacific Railway and Agnico Eagle Mines pushed their shares higher. CP jumped $11.80, or 4.1%, to $298.81. Agnico shares hiked four dollars, or 5.7%, to $74.62.
The energy sector made the smallest gains, up 0.1%, as higher oil prices were offset by a 67-cent, or 7%, slump in shares of Husky Energy to $8.85, after it reported a 50% drop in quarterly profit.
Mullen Group was among the biggest gainers Thursday morning, up 48 cents, or 6.4%, to $7.98.
Firstservice fell $6.21, or 5%, the most on the TSX, to $119.10.
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 0.92 points to 543.96
The 12 Toronto subgroups were evenly split by midday, with information technology issues soaring 2.4%, while gold advanced 2%, and materials strengthened 1.1%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by energy, fading 0.8%, consumer staples, sliding 0.7%, and real-estate, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The blue-chip index in New York gave way midday Thursday, as a decline in 3M offset gains in Microsoft.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22.57 points to move into noon hour at 26,811.38, shares of 3M fell 4.2%, shaving off nearly 50 points from the Dow.
The S&P 500 gained back 7.6 points to 3,012.12.
The NASDAQ Composite Index added 64.98 points to 8,184.82. Microsoft, meanwhile, climbed 1.4% but added just 14 points to the index.
3M cut its full-year earnings forecast, overshadowing stronger-than-expected results for the quarter. In turn, Microsoft rose as investors cheered earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations.
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%.
In all, 45 S&P 500 companies were on deck to report earnings on Thursday. Some of the companies posting their results before the bell include 3M, Comcast, Dow Inc. and Twitter. Amazon, Intel and Visa are among the companies scheduled to report after the bell.
Comcast shares rose 0.4% after reporting while Dow Inc climbed 2.4%. Twitter, however, fell 18% on weaker-than-expected results.
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." PayPal, meanwhile, jumped 8% after posting its best results in at least a year.
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
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 19 cents to $56.16 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $7.70 to $1,503.40 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
