Canada's main stock index were virtually unchanged at Thursday’s open after sinking to a near five-month low the previous session, with some investors turning more optimistic ahead of a slew of U.S. corporate earnings, and with an eye to scooping up bargains.
The S&P/TSX index eked its way higher by 0.69 points to 11,947.98
The Canadian dollar ducked back 0.01 cents at 97.42 cents U.S.
African Barrick Gold, the subject of a failed takeover attempt in January, said that this week's plunge in the price of gold has raised the stakes for its internal operational review. The firm’s parent, Barrick Gold, recovered 52 cents in price, or 2.9%, to $18.69.
Metals staged a comeback after Wednesday’s pasting, led by Rio Alto Mining, up 2.4% to $3.47.
Financials did not fare so well at the outset, with TD Bank down nearly 1% to $80.07.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 1.34 points to 924.94
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were up soon after the opening bell, with gold ahead 2.5%, materials up 1.7%, and the metals and mining sector progressing 0.7%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by financials and telecom stocks, each off 0.3%, while consumer discretionary issues faltered 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks slid for a second day Thursday, as investors parsed through another big batch of earnings results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 64.37 points to begin the day at 14,554.20
The S&P 500 index fell 9.62 points to 1,542.39. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite flopped 22.83 points to 3,181.84
Nokia's stock price dropped 10% after the Finnish cell phone company reported a 20% drop in quarterly sales.
Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, but weakness in traditional trading revenue weighed on the stock.
PepsiCo blamed a "devaluation of net monetary assets in Venezuela" for its quarterly profit slide, but shares gained ground.
Verizon shares edged higher after the company beat earnings forecasts but missed on revenue.
IBM, Google and Microsoft are scheduled to report earnings after the close.
Aside from earnings, Apple's shares remained under pressure a day after its stock fell nearly 6%. Apple was hampered by a negative sales forecast from iPhone supplier Cirrus Logic.
Shares of Carnival Corp. rose after the cruise ship company said it planned to invest more than $600 million U.S. into fixing its disaster-prone toilets.
eBay shares tumbled after the online-auction site offered weak second-quarter guidance on Wednesday.
In economic news, the government said initial jobless claims increased by 4,000 to 352,000 in the week ended April 13. That was slightly below forecasts.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained more ground, lowering yields to 1.69% from Wednesday’s 1.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recouped 65 cents to $87.33 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained back $1.30 to $1,384 U.S. an ounce
