Canada's resource-heavy main stock index opened lower on Thursday as energy and material stocks tracked weak commodity prices amid looming concerns of a global recession.
The TSX Composite backed off 5.52 points to commence Thursday at 19,720.62.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.17 cents to 75.81 cents.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada said Canadian auto sales were down 16.2% in July to 130,480 units.
What’s more, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported national home sales edged down 1% on a month-over-month basis in August. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 24.7% below August 2021.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 2.75 points to 651.12
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour, with health-care surging 2.1%, information technology clicking 1% higher, and real-estate up 0.9%.
The five laggards were weighed most by energy, shedding 1.8%, utilities dropping, 0.8%, and consumer staples falling 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose in choppy trading on Thursday as investors mulled over several economic reports that showed a muddy picture of the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 80.13 points to begin Thursday to 31,215.22
The S&P 500 acquired 4.46 points to 3,950.47.
The NASDAQ Composite added 12.04 points to 11,731.72.
Financial stocks outperformed, with Goldman Sachs rising 1.8% and JPMorgan climbing 1.6%.
However, shares of Adobe fell more than 11% after the company announced a $20-billion deal to buy Figma, weighing on the NASDAQ. Chevron dropped 1.3%, hurting the Dow.
On Thursday, initial jobless claims came in better than expected, but import prices saw a smaller drop than estimates suggested. Retail sales beat expectations, but were negative when excluding autos.
Manufacturing data also showed a slowing economy. While those reports suggest that the U.S. consumer sector is holding its ground for now, they will do little to alleviate concerns about persistent inflation.
Treasury prices gained a bit, lowering yields to 3.41% from Wednesday’s 3.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.
Oil prices swooned $2.37 to $86.11 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $9.50 to $1,699.60 U.S. an ounce.
