Toronto stock markets swung between small gains and losses in the opening minutes of trading on Thursday.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell back 3.58 points to begin the session at 11,561.22.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.12 to 97.45 cents U.S.
Stocks in play this morning include Canadian Pacific Railway, whose locomotive engineers and conductors walked off the job on Wednesday after contract talks broke down, shutting down freight operations on the railroad.
Royal Bank of Canada said profit fell 7% in the second quarter, driven by a $202-million loss the bank took on the buyout of RBC Dexia Investor Services from its partner in April.
Toronto-Dominion Bank posted a 20% rise in earnings, but signaled that the pace of earnings growth will be difficult to maintain, with loan growth slowing and low interest rates squeezing profit margins.
ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc., which makes factory automation systems and solar energy equipment, reported a quarterly profit, aided by growth at its transportation business and a narrower loss at its solar operations.
Research In Motion Ltd reported its head of global sales has resigned to take on a leadership role in another industry, a major blow ahead of make-or-break product launches due later this year.
Three Nebraska landowners on Wednesday challenged a state law aimed at speeding up approval of a new route for TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas around environmentally sensitive areas of the state.
Pharmaceutical firm QLT Inc. postponed its annual general meeting after receiving a raft of late director nominations from a group of institutional investors it believes is looking to gain control of the company.
Speaking of things economic, Statistics Canada reported this morning that those of us receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits was little changed in March at 549,400, or pretty much where that number has been since last September.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 12.29 points to 1,268.77, while the Nasdaq Canada staggered 3.22 points to 363.82.
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers Thursday, with gold up 0.5%, and the consumer staples and materials subgroups each up 0.3%.
The seven laggards were weighed by global base metals, down 1%, information technology, off 0.6%, and the metals and mining group falling back 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks opened little changed Thursday, as concerns about Europe's debt crisis and the risk of Greece exiting the euro-zone continued to weigh on investors.
The Dow Jones Industrials began Thursday down 6.62 points, to 12,489.53
The S&P 500 nipped ahead 0.02 points to 1,318.88. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 7.61 points to 2,842.51.
Shares of Dow component Hewlett-Packard jumped 5% to $22.18 U.S. a day after the company reported profit and sales that beat forecasts and raised its forecast for the full year. The company also announced plans to cut 27,000 jobs worldwide.
Warehouse retailer Costco reported improved earnings that were slightly better than forecasts early Thursday, on revenue that was roughly in line with estimates. Shares of Costco gained on the report.
But shares of luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. tumbled after it reported lower earnings that missed forecasts, despite improved revenue.
Shares of data storage firm NetApp plunged after the company gave fiscal first quarter earnings guidance well below the consensus estimates. The company did report better than forecast fiscal quarter earnings growth though.
Meanwhile, the Facebook saga continues as the social media company's IPO has sparked more lawsuits and investigations.
Lead Facebook IPO underwriter Morgan Stanley and other underwriters made money on the trading of Facebook shares as prices dropped, sources at one of the underwriters told Fortune.
Worries about Europe's debt crisis and the threat of Greece leaving the euro-zone have unnerved investors on both sides of the Atlantic.
European leaders met Wednesday in an ad hoc summit to address the latest problems with sovereign debt amid growing worries that Greece is moving closer to dropping the euro, and the contagion effects an exit might have on other economies.
The meeting failed to establish any concrete solutions for resolving the sovereign debt crisis or moving forward with Greece.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, "We want Greece to stay in the euro, but we insist that Greece sticks to commitments that it has agreed to."
European stocks rose between 0.6% and 1.5%, rebounding from the prior day's selloff.
On the economic slate, the number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits dipped 2,000 to 370,000 in the latest week, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. The number was in line with economists' forecasts.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury demurred, raising the yield to 1.76% from Wednesday’s 1.72%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil regained 89 cents to $90.78 U.S.
Gold futures for June delivery rose $24.30 to $1,573.70 U.S. an ounce.
