Equities in Canada’s biggest centre opened lower on Thursday, weighed by bleak domestic jobs data and escalating tensions between the United States and China.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index docked 19.16 points to open Thursday at 14,978.47.
Canada Goose Holdings said on Wednesday it has laid off 125 workers, about 2.5% of its global workforce, as part of steps to cope with the impact of COVID-19 on its business. Canada Goose shares picked up 53 cents, or 1.9%, to $28.86.
RBC cut the target price on Aritzia to $23.00 from $27.00. Aritzia shares lost 14 cents to $15.66.
CIBC raised the target price on Enerplus to $5.00 from $4.50. Enerplus nicked up three cents to $4.05.
Credit Suisse raised the target price on Paramount Resources to $1.75 from $1.50. Paramount acquired six cents to $1.87.
CIBC raised the target price on Tourmaline Oil to $17.50 from $15.00. Tourmaline shares docked 10 cents to $13.92.
CIBC raised the target price on Vermilion Energy to $7.00 from $6.00. Vermilion gushed 14 cents, or 1.9%, to $7.54.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange subtracted 2.48 points to 531.45.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, with health-care surging 4.3%, information technology ahead 1.5%, and real-estate stronger 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by gold, sliding 2.4%. materials, down 1.8%, and consumer staples, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were little changed on Thursday as Wall Street digested a strong rally this week along with the latest weekly jobless claims data.
The Dow Jones Industrials tenaciously climbed 47.75 points to open for business Thursday at 24,623.65.
The S&P 500 docked 2.22 points to 2,969.39.
The NASDAQ deleted 28.25 points to 9,347.52.
Facebook rose 1.8% and reached a fresh record high. Amazon also hit an all-time high before falling from that level.
The major averages entered Thursday’s session all up more than 3% week to date thanks in large part to state efforts to ease stay-at-home orders and begin lifting restrictions on business. Connecticut, for example, began on Wednesday to allow residents to dine in at restaurants with outdoor seating.
Sentiment has also been lifted by rising optimism around a potential coronavirus vaccine. Moderna said Monday that an early stage vaccine trial had shown positive results, with all 45 participants developing COVID-19 antibodies.
The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday another 2.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. Thursday’s report brings the total number of filings during the pandemic to more than 38 million. The number of continuing claims was at 25.07 million, its highest level on record.
To be sure, the latest figures show the pace of new filings has declined from previous weeks.
Rising tensions between China and the U.S. tempered market sentiment on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill that could ban Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Baidu from listing on U.S. exchanges.
That measure was passed after President Donald Trump said in a tweet that the "incompetence of China" caused "this mass Worldwide killing," referring to the coronavirus.
Shares of Alibaba dropped 2.8% along with JD.com. Baidu’s U.S.-listed shares dipped 1%
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Wednesday’s 0.68%.
Oil prices added 81 cents to $34.30 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shed $19.50 to $1,732.60 U.S. an ounce.
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