Stocks in Toronto went for another dive on Thursday, following the release of data on the country's current account deficit in the first quarter.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 62.65 points to start the session at 14,548.31
The Canadian dollar regained 0.13 cents to 92.07 cents U.S.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said its second-quarter profit fell by nearly two-thirds, hurt by $543 million in charges related to its Caribbean banking unit. Commerce shares fell $1.58 to $97.46
The Bank of Nova Scotia said on Wednesday that it planned to sell the majority of its 37% stake in asset manager CI Financial via a secondary offering that could raise as much as $2.62 billion. Scotiabank shares added 16 cents to $68.98.
Canaccord Genuity, CIBC, National Bank Financial all raised their price targets on Bank of Montreal. BMO shares erased 72 cents to $75.90
Canaccord started coverage on Rubicon Minerals with a speculative buy rating. Rubicon shares gained four cents to $1.02.
Canada’s current account deficit narrowed to $12.39 billion in the first quarter of 2014 thanks to a stronger performance by exporters, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.
Market analysts had expected a shortfall of $13.10 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 3.16 points to 980.42.
All four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were negative to start the session, as financials stumbled 0.7%, while metals and mining stocks and energy issues each lost 0.4%.
The three gainers were information technology took on 0.4%, while gold and health-care each inched up 0.1%. Global base metals were flat in the first hour.
ON WALLSTREET
Investors were digesting Gross Domestic Product numbers in the first hour of trading Thursday, and looked as if they weren’t sure what to make of them.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was negative by 0.42 points to 16,632.76
The S&P 500 eked up 1.65 points to 1,911.43, and the NASDAQ composite index moved ahead 8.25 points to 4,233.33
Apple shares were modestly higher after the technology giant announced that it was buying headphone-maker Beats for $3 billion U.S.
Costco has issued its latest quarterly results, showing sales increased but profit came in slightly below expectations.
Abercrombie & Fitch will also report earnings before the opening bell.
Retailers Guess and Pacific Sunwear will report after the close.
Revised numbers released Thursday show the economy shrank in the first quarter, marking the first downturn since early 2011. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic growth, fell at a 1% annual pace, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries hiked, lowering yields to 2.43% from Wednesday’s 2.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices acquired 34 cents to $103.06 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices plunged $4.40 to $1,254.70 U.S. an ounce.
