Equities in Canada’s largest market opened higher on Thursday, helped by gains in mining shares and as global stocks steadied following a dip in oil prices.
The S&P/TSX advanced 66.77 points to open Thursday at 20,780.49.
The Canadian dollar acquired 0.19 cents to 79.13 cents U.S.
CIBC raised the target price on Jamieson Wellness to $45.00 from $42.00.
The vitamin company jumped 95 cents, or 2.6%, to $37.40.
CIBC raised the target price on Vermilion Energy to $32.00 from $25.00. Shares in Vermilion backed off 11 cents in price to $28.60.
ATB Capital Markets raised the target price on WSP Global to $170.00 from $160.00. WSP shares galloped $4.81, or 3.3%, to $151.39.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported the total value of building permits in Canada declined 0.6% in April to $11.7 billion.
Decreases in residential permits (-3.3%) were mostly offset by gains in the non-residential sector (+5.0%).
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange poked up 3.4 points to 715.20.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups began the session with gains, as gold surged 2.5%, materials not far behind, up 2.1%, and consumer discretionary stocks moving up 1.2%.
The four laggards were weighed most by energy and health-care, each settling back 0.4%, and real-estate, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were mixed Thursday after technology bellwether Microsoft issued weak guidance, with the major indexes coming off two straight losing days.
The Dow Jones Industrials retreated 174.31 points to 32,638.92.
The S&P 500 dropped 8.67 points to 4,092.56
The NASDAQ Composite regained 25.34 points to 12,019.80.
Shares of Microsoft slid about 2% as the company warned revenue and earnings this quarter would fall short of analysts’ estimates.
Other mega-cap technology names followed suit, with Apple and Amazon each down roughly 1%.
Traders also parsed through corporate earnings results. Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell around 8% following slight misses on both earnings and revenue. Meanwhile, shares of pet retailer Chewy surged about 15% after the company reported strong quarterly results.
Investors eyed employment data showing the slowest job creation pace of the pandemic-era recovery. Private sector employment rose by just 128,000 in May, ADP reported Thursday, falling well short of the 299,000 Dow Jones estimate.
In another report Thursday, initial jobless claims last week fell and came in below expectations, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
The closely-watched jobs report for May is slated for release Friday morning. Economists expect 325,000 nonfarm jobs were added in the latest month, compared with 428,000 in April.
Treasury prices listed slightly lower, raising yields to 2.94% from Wednesday’s 2.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices marched higher 81 cents to $116.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $21.00 to $1,869.70 U.S. an ounce.
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