Equities in Toronto put up a good fight, but never did dig themselves out from the negative pit in which they found themselves, weighed most by metals and gold stocks.
The TSX/S&P Composite remained negative 33.41 points to close Thursday at 20,520.60
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.06 cents to 79.89 cents U.S.
Resource stocks weighed most Thursday, with Eldorado Gold trailing off 34 cents, or 3.1%., to $10.57, while Centerra Gold was down 35 cents, or3.7%, to $9.18.
Endeavour Silver lost 32 cents, or 5.4%, to $5.57, while Fortuna Silver Mines docked 26 cents, or 4.7%, to $5.25.
Among health-care issues, Auriana Pharmaceuticals let go of 61 cents, or 3.5%, to $16.76, while Cronos Group shed 30 cents, or 3.5%, to $8.33.
In the tech sector, Absolute Software gained 85 cents, or 6.1%, to $14.88, while Nuvei Corporation rallied $2.37, or 1.9%, to $127.44.
Among real-estate concerns, Summit Industrial Income REIT gathered 57 cents, or 2.7%, to $21.42, while Real Matters picked up 24 cents, or 2%, to $12.51.
Among consumer staples, SunOpta hiked 38 cents, or 3%, to $12.92, and Loblaw Companies tacked on 98 cents, or 1.1%, to $86.98.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 5.32 points to 918.76
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, as gold dipped 1.5%, materials stumbled 1% and health-care lost 0.8%.
The five gainers were led by information technology, better by 0.9%, real-estate, up 0.3%, and consumer staples improving 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday, pushing both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 to fresh records during an otherwise tame session.
The 30-stock index regained 14.88 points from Wednesday’s all-time record close to close Thursday at 35,499.857.
The S&P 500 gained 13.13 points to 4,460.83, to improve on Wednesday’s all-time high.
The NASDAQ recovered 51.13 points to 14,816.26.
Among the S&P sectors, health care and tech outperformed with gains of about 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively, while energy, industrials and materials stocks lagged. Salesforce and Apple were the best-performing stocks in the Dow while Home Depot and Visa each shaved off about 20 points.
Micron shares fell 6% during the regular session after Morgan Stanley predicted a slowdown in the memory chip market and downgraded the stock.
Disney shares popped 3% in after-hour trading Thursday afternoon following the media giant’s quarterly earnings. The company beat estimates on both profit and revenue.
The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday morning that initial jobless claims declined slightly last week as the U.S. labor market continues its recovery from last year’s recession. There were 375,000 claims last week, matching estimates. The prior reading came in at 385,000 claims.
The prices U.S. manufacturers and other businesses pay for labor, raw materials and other goods rose again in July. The government said its producer price index, excluding volatile food, trade services and energy components, rose 0.9% last month versus a forecast for a 0.5% gain.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys slipped, raising yields to 1.36% from Wednesday’s 1.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 29 cents to $68.96 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices perked $1.50 to $1,754.80 U.S. an ounce.
