The Toronto stock market looked to open slightly lower amid another run of strong earnings reports from the banking sector while traders looked to remarks later in the morning from U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 0.40 points to finish Wednesday at 14,188.58
The Canadian dollar faded 0.02 cents U.S. early Thursday to 89.81 cents U.S.
CIBC posted quarterly net income of $1.18 billion, up nearly 50% from a year ago and partly due to its sale of half its Aeroplan credit card business to TD Bank. Ex-items, earnings were up 6.3% to $951 million or $2.31 a share, 15 cents better than estimates.
TD had $2.04 billion of net income in the first quarter, up 14% from a year earlier. TD’s adjusted net income was $2.02 billion, or $1.06 per common share, two cents ahead of estimates.
TD hiked its dividend by 9% to 47 cents per share while CIBC’s will be going up about 2% to 98 cents per share.
National Bank, Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank also posted solid earnings this week that beat expectations.
In other earnings news, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International reported quarterly net income of $124 million, or 36 cents per share, compared to a loss of $89.1 million, or 29 cents per share a year ago. Revenues in the quarter were $2.1 billion, up 109% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012.
There was also acquisition activity as online optical company Coastal.com is being sold to France-based Essilor International for $445 million. The Vancouver-based company, which operates such websites as ClearlyContacts.com, says Essilor has offered $12.45 per share in cash for all of its shares.
The federal government has again rejected a proposed $1.5-billion, open-pit, gold-copper mine in British Columbia’s Interior over environmental concerns.
The environment department rejected Taseko Mines’ New Prosperity Gold Copper Mine for a second time because it will cause significant adverse environmental effects that can’t be mitigated.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 2.58 points Wednesday to 1,009.44.
ON WALLSTREET
Rising tensions in Ukraine and testimony from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep investors anxious Thursday.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dipped 34 points, or 0.2%, to 16,144. Futures for the S&P 500 faded 3.9 points, or 0.2%, to 1,838, and futures for the NASDAQ slipped 1.5 points, or 0.1%, at 3,672.25.
Shares in J.C. Penney look set to soar by more than 15% when the markets open. The retailer reported a narrower-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter after the close Wednesday, and said it expects same-store sales to rise by 3% to 5% during the current quarter.
Tesla stock is also getting a boost Thursday morning after the automaker announced it was raising $1.6 billion U.S. to fund its expansion plans.
Shares in the Chinese search engine Baidu were rising in premarket trading after the company posted solid earnings and sales.
Meanwhile, investors are awaiting quarterly earnings before the opening bell from the likes of Best Buy and Kohl's.
Salesforce.com and Gap will report after the close.
In a challenge to Ukraine's new leaders, dozens of armed men seized the regional government administration building and parliament in Ukraine's southern Crimea region Thursday and raised the Russian flag. That followed surprise military exercises by Russia on Ukraine's doorstep Wednesday.
Investors around the world are also awaiting testimony from the head of the Federal Reserve as they look for clues about future monetary policy.
Yellen, who just took on the role of Fed chair, will testify before the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m. ET and her comments could have a significant impact on market sentiment.
Yellen was originally scheduled to speak two weeks ago when she also testified before the House, but her appearance was delayed due to bad weather.
Also on the economic front, the U.S. government will release its weekly report on initial jobless claims and its monthly report on durable goods orders, both at 8:30 a.m. ET.
European markets were under pressure in morning trading, with Germany's DAX index leading the way lower.
Asian markets ended with mixed results. The main indexes in Australia and Japan pushed down while other markets posted gains.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong did particularly well Thursday, registering a 1.7% gain.
Oil prices gave back five cents to $102.54 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices took on two dollars to $1,330.00 U.S. an ounce.
