Equity markets opened lower on Thursday, as purchasing managers noted fewer buys over the last month, and suspense reigned over jobs figures to be released Friday.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 32.09 points to begin Thursday at 14,764.70.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.01 cents to 91.39 cents U.S.
Reuters poll points out that the outlook for the Canadian dollar has improved over the last month, as a central bank that is unlikely to significantly alter its course is expected to keep the currency hemmed in a slim trading range.
Just Energy Group Inc said it would sell its Ontario-based water heater and air conditioning home services business for $505 million to pay down debt. Shares gathered 11 cents to $6.26.
CIBC cut the target price on B2Gold Corp. to $4.50 from $5 with an outperform rating. B2Gold faded three cents to $2.51.
KBW, CIBC both raised their price target on Canaccord Genuity, whose shares gained 26 cents to $11.47.
Barclays, NBF, Canaccord Genuity all raised their target price on Laurentian Bank of Canada, whose shares took on 17 cents to $48.23.
On matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada reported that building permits issued by Canadian municipalities rose 1.1% to $6.0 billion in April, after two straight monthly declines. This increase resulted from higher construction intentions in the residential sector, which more than offset the decline in the non-residential sector.
Western University’s Ivey School of Business reported this morning that its purchasing managers’ index fell to 48.2 last month from a reading of 54.1 in April. Analysts had expected the index to increase to 56.0 in May. A figure above 50.0 indicates industry expansion, below indicates contraction.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 1.82 points to 980.60.
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, as health-care was 0.8% less hale, telecoms sank 0.6%, and consumer discretionary stocks slipped 0.5%
The five gainers were led by gold, up 0.9%, while materials and global base metals each sprang to life 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Both the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 opened at fresh record highs on Thursday, but then slid, following the European Central Bank's unprecedented decision to enact negative interest rates.
The Dow dropped 21.83 points to 16,715.70
The S&P 500 dropped 4.30 points to 1,923.58, and the NASDAQ composite index slumped 7.11 points to 4,244.53
General Motors is set to release the findings of its internal investigation into the ignition switch defect and massive recall today.
GM has issued recalls for 2.6 million cars over a technical problem linked to the deaths of at least 13 people. In total, GM has recalled 15.8 million vehicles worldwide this year.
GM CEO Mary Barra pledged to do the "right thing" for victims and said the auto maker fired 15 people for misconduct, incompetence or failure to act over the scandal. Barra said the report found a pattern of incompetence and neglect, but no conspiracy to cover up the defects.
Shares of the automaker rallied 3% of Wednesday, but are flat Thursday morning.
Should Twitter follow Apple's lead into music? Investors apparently believe so. Shares of Twitter climbed 2% after the Financial Times reported Twitter recently considered acquiring online music services Soundcloud, Spotify or even Pandora in a bid to find new sources of growth.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile dropped over 2% amid reports the company and Sprint are once again moving towards a potential marriage -- in the face of serious regulatory skepticism. While a deal could be blocked by antitrust or telecom regulators, the numbers-three and -four wireless providers feel they need to team up to compete with industry leaders AT&T and Verizon.
Shares of Ciena surged 15% after the company unveiled a bullish outlook for the second half of 2014. Ciena's quarterly profits and sales also exceeded Wall Street's expectations.
J.M. Smucker rallied almost 2% after reporting a lower drop in profits and sales than analysts had feared. The maker of Folgers was hurt by lower coffee prices and earlier this week announced plans to raise the price of its coffee products by 9%.
The U.S. Labor Department said 312,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, up from 304,000 the week before.
But Wall Street is already looking ahead to Friday's all-important jobs report, which economists predict will show the U.S. added 200,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 6.4%.
U.S. capital markets tend to take their cues from Janet Yellen at the Federal Reserve, but recently they've been moved by Mario Draghi's efforts to breathe life into the European economy.
Hoping to encourage inflation and spur bank lending, the ECB cut interest rates, as expected, to a record low and set a negative deposit rate on Thursday.
The negative rate is meant to penalize banks that decide to park their cash at the central bank instead of lending it out to businesses and consumers. But it's not like Draghi has a credible playbook to follow to avoid unintended consequences -- the ECB is the first major central bank to move into negative territory.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained slightly, lowering yields to 2.60% from Wednesday’s 2.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices fell 92 cents to $101.72 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $6.80 at $1,251.10 U.S. an ounce.
