Stocks on Bay Street fell Thursday, led by declining shares of gold companies as prices for the precious metal retreated from their record high.
The S&P/TSX Composite closed down 14.17 points, or .11%, to 12,368.65.
Finance Minister Speaks -- Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said this morning that the government's decision to limit employment insurance premium increases reflected concern about a fragile economic recovery. Flaherty also told reporters in Ottawa that despite the cap on premiums the government was still on track to balance its budget over the medium term, as it forecast in March.
Interest Rate Hikes on Hold -- Record high household-debt levels and a soft U.S. export market mean modest economic growth for Canada in the months ahead, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney stated today, suggesting further interest rate hikes will likely be delayed.
In data news -- Canada's economy decreased for the first time in nearly a year in July on weakness in manufacturing, construction and retail, giving the Bank of Canada yet another reason to pause in its interest rate hiking campaign.
The central bank's current growth forecast is for a 2.8% annual rate in the third quarter and 3.5% for 2010.
Real gross domestic product edged down 0.1% in the month, Statistics Canada said on Thursday, matching market views meeting expectations that economic growth will continue to moderate in the third quarter.
Gold prices forfeited early gains and edged lower today after better-than-expected U.S. economic data trumped sovereign debt European worries.
Bank Aims High -- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has set a target of achieving net income of $3 billion per year from its retail bank division in just three years' time. This represents a 39%jump from current levels, CIBC's head of retail banking said today. CIBC, is on pace for retail banking profit of $2.2 billion this year, based on annualized results through the first three quarters of 2010.
Miner's taking a hit -- Northgate Minerals is down 7% and NovaGold Resources is down 6%. Big boy, Barrick Gold is down more than 3% this afternoon.
Potash saga -- Sinochem, China's top chemicals firm, is working diligently to come up with a challenge to BHP Billiton's $39 billion bid for Potash Corp. as efforts to secure a Russian partner have failed, according to a report.
State-owned Sinochem has a team of around 20 working overtime to come up with options to stall BHP's bid, and was looking to make a decision soon, sources close to the Chinese firm said.
Shares of Potash are down 1.32% to $148.24 this morning
Oil still climbing -- The price of a barrel of oil is up $1.01 to $78.87.
Gold Chills Out -- Spot Gold is slipping some this morning; down $3.89 to $1,306.065.
Gold Stocks leading laggards this morning -- Goldcorp is down 2.35% to $44.48, Kinross is down 1.18% in morning trading to $19.34. Barrick Gold is up 3.03% to $47.10.
The Canadian dollar is up against the U.S. dollar; trading up .00544 of a cent to .97386 cents US.
ON BAYSTREET
Six of the TSX Subgroups closed in the green today. Energy issues led the way; up 1.08%, followed by real estate; up .47%, while consumer staples added .29%
On the downside -- Gold is lost 1.68%, materials were down 1.55% and health care gave back 1.13%
The TSX Venture Exchange closed down by 4.88 points to 1708.26, while the Nasdaq Canada index closed in the green; up 2.83 points to 621.81.
ON WALLSTREET
After a strong start, stocks on Wall Street reversed course and slipped Thursday as investors decided to secure in profits at the end of the best September since 1939. Investors are looking forward to the 4th qu
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 47.08 points, or .44%, to 10,788.05 today. The S&P 500 slipped 3.53 points, or 0.31%, to 1,141.20. The NASDAQ closed red as well; down 7.94 points, or 0.33%, to 2,368.62.
September to Remember -- The Dow industrials rose 7.7% and the S&P 500 gained 8.8%, with both scoring their best September in 71 years. The Nasdaq jumped 12% for the month, its best September since 1998.
Flying High -- The airline sector ended the month on a positive note Thursday, closing the door on a quarter that saw the group enjoy a 20% surge over the past three months.
Technology shares, which have been strong performers all September, were leading the pullback. Big tech companies like Apple Inc., Dell Inc. and Google Inc. were all down about 1% today.
Trading of shares of Hewlett-Packard were temporarily halted in after hours as the Company was scheduled to announce new CEO. Leo Apotheker was named as CEO, but trading is still halted as of 4:17PM EST. HPQ closed down 1.08% today.
Dragging Down the Dow -- Caterpillar (CAT) was the Dow's biggest laggard, down 1.95%, followed by Hewlett-Packard; down 1.65% and IBM; down 1.01%.
Gainers -- Shares of Boeing are higher, up .45%, after the aircraft manufacturer pushed back its delivery scheduled for its 747-8 freighter to mid-year 2011 to address manufacturing issues.
McCormick rose 1.78% this morning after issuing a quarterly-adjusted profit that beat market expectations.
Travelers (TRV) and Bank of America (BAC) were the benchmark's top performers.
Unemployment Down -- The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell more than economists had predicted last week. Applications are still at levels that indicate employers aren't necessarily ramping up hiring, but at least the pace of firings seems to be slowing.
The chief executive of Johnson and Johnson is meeting with today to tell Congress his company "let the public down" with a string of quality problems that have resulted in millions of recalled medicines and discuss how JNJ sent people out first to buy-up the products rather than perform a recall. Shares of JNJ, which have been on an upward tear all month, are up .18% to $62.42 today.
AIG to Repay Taxpayers -- American International Group Inc and the U.S. government laid out a plan for the insurer to repay its $182.3 billion taxpayer bailout, just over two years after it was rescued from the brink of collapse. AIG shares are up $2.07, or 5.5%, to $39.52.
In other insurance trades -- Prudential shares are down $2.01, or 3.7%, to $54.52.
Ronald Denies Rumors -- McDonald's denies reports it's considering dropping health care coverage for some employees in response to a provision of the health care overhaul. Shares of MCD are down .08% to $78.39 this morning.
Drug News -- Covance and Sanofi-Aventis sign definitive agreements for 10-year strategic R&D alliance. Shares of CVD shot up 8.06% this morning
Nokia up 3.62% on news that the Company has begun to start shipping N8 devices
REVERSE SPLIT -- Most traders knew it was coming, but YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) officially said late Wednesday its board approved a 1:25 reverse stock split to become effective Oct. 1. Shares are down 16.51%
The US Dollar is dropped against the euro today; down .0011 and dropping against the yen as well; down .2200.
Oil futures for November delivery rallied and are up 2.8% today to $79.97 a barrel at market close..
Bonds: The yield on the 10-year bond is up .9500% at 2.5510%
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