The Toronto stock market was virtually unchanged at the start of business, as investors digested new international trade figures Thursday.
The S&P/TSX composite index eked ahead 11.11 points to begin Thursday at 15,668.74.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.36 to 92.21 cents U.S.
Manulife Financial Corp and Britain's Standard Life have agreed a near-$4-billion deal for the Canadian operations of the British insurer as part of a broader global tie-up. Manulife shares dipped 22 cents to $22.14.
WSP Global Inc said it would buy Balfour Beatty Plc's U.S. professional services division, Parsons Brinckerhoff, for an enterprise value of about $1.24 billion, to increase its footprint in the U.S. transportation segment. WSP shares plummeted 97 cents, or 2.6%, to $35.98.
National Bank Financial upped the price target on Alimentation Couche-Tard to $36.00 from $33.00. Couche-Tard shares gained $1.19, or 3.6%, to $36.64.
Canaccord Genuity raised the price target on Concordia Healthcare to $40.00 from $38.00. Concordia dropped 20 cents to $36.77.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that our merchandise exports increased 1.4% in July, while imports edged down 0.3%. As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the world widened from $1.8 billion in June to $2.6 billion in July.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.97 points to 1,008.21.
Seven of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher, led by consumer staples, up 1.2%, metals and mining, up 0.4%, and utilities, inching up 0.2%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by real-estate, down 0.2%, while information technology and gold each slid 0.1%. Materials were flat in the first hour of trading.
ON WALLSTREET
The U.S. stock market rose early Thursday as the European Central Bank’s surprise interest-rate cuts and new bond-buying program boosted global equities.
The Dow Jones Industrials opened Thursday up 80.11 points to 17,158.39
The S&P 500 recovered 8.68 points to 2,009.40. The NASDAQ spiked 28.52 points to 4,601.17.
Yum! Brands shares fell 3.5% after the fast-food restaurant chain said in a filing to the SEC that its same-store sales in China, where half of its revenue was generated, fell about 13% in the third-quarter from a year ago.
PVH Corp. shares jumped 8% after the apparel company’s second-quarter earnings, reported late Wednesday, beat expectations.
Hovnanian Enterprises shares rose after the homebuilder beat estimates for the third-quarter profits.
The European Central Bank unexpectedly lowered all its interest rates Thursday to fresh record lows.
The ECB’s action was seen as a positive because it shows the central bank is ready to counter falling inflation in the euro-zone. The move outweighed slightly softer-than-expected reports on the U.S. labour market ahead of the monthly jobs report due on Friday.
Thursday’s key U.S. economic report is ADP’s report on hiring in the private sector, which showed a slowdown during August. The country’s largest payroll-processing firm said the private sector added 204,000 jobs in August, which was below the 215,000 jobs expected.
Weekly jobless claims numbers rose slightly more than expected, but remain near an eight-year bottom.
The two reports are preludes to the August jobs report on Friday. Economists expect 226,000 nonfarm-payroll jobs were added in August.
Separately, the U.S. trade deficit shrunk in July, and the June gap was revised lower, offering evidence that trade was slightly less of a drag on the nation’s growth during the summer than initially reported.
A look at the service sector will come from the Institute for Supply Management later this morning. Economists expect the ISM’s index to come in at 57.2%. Service providers employ more than 80% of American workers.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell, raising yields to 2.43% from Wednesday’s 2.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 45 cents to $95.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $2.10 to $1,272.40 U.S. an ounce.
