The Toronto stock market moved lower Thursday afternoon as falling oil and metal prices depressed commodity stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell on the day by 27.88 points to 11,824.97
The financial sector was the brightest spot on the TSX amid solid earnings results from TD Bank and a major acquisition deal for the country's biggest independent securities broker, Vancouver-based Canaccord Financial Inc. acquiring Toronto-based Genuity Capital Markets for $290 million.
The deal is expected to broaden Canaccord’s reach from beyond its traditional base in junior resource stocks and further into mergers and restructuring, where Toronto-based Genuity has focused its growth. Canaccord shares ran ahead 79 cents, or 9.2%, to $9.39.
TD Bank shares were up $1.50 to $69.86 as it reported its net income rose to $1.3 billion in its latest quarter, essentially doubling what it earned a year earlier. Adjusted net income was $1.43 billion or $1.60 a share, handily beating estimates of $1.35 a share. Revenue was a record $5 billion, also above estimates, while loan loss provisions declined.
The energy sector lost ground, as Canadian Oil Sands Trust declined 49 cents to $28.10.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. handed in quarterly net earnings of $455 million, down from $1.77 billion a year ago. The company also said it is raising its quarterly dividend by 43% to 15 cents a share. CNQ shares rose 36 cents to $72.12.
The TSX global gold index was down, as Goldcorp Inc. fell 61 cents to $40.82 while Barrick Gold Corp. fell 45 cents to $41.00.
The base metals sector was off with May copper shedding seven cents to $3.37 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources lost 61 cents to $40.54.
HudBay Minerals fell 80 cents to $13.25. The Toronto-based metals miner said Wednesday its latest quarterly profit fell to $7.3 million or five cents per share, compared with a $15.8-million profit a year ago.
The TSX telecom sector dipped slightly after the federal Conservative government announced in its Throne Speech on Wednesday that the industry is being thrown open to both venture capital and investment from outside the country. The move would set the stage for more wireless players and possibly lower rates for cellphones and other telecom services.
Canada’s wireless market is dominated by three players -- Bell, Rogers and Telus. Rogers was the major sector decliner, down 34 cents to $33.82.
Investors also absorbed news that Leonard Asper resigned Thursday as the president and CEO of restructuring media company Canwest Global Communications. Cable giant Shaw Communications has struck a deal to take control of Canwest’s TV and broadcasting assets and a number of suitors have come forward to bid separately for the newspapers. Its shares were unchanged at nine cents.
Shaw’s shares dipped eight cents at $20.45.
In other earnings news, patent licensing company Mosaid Technologies Inc. said late Wednesday that it earned $2.2 million in its third quarter, down from $2.3 million in the same quarter a year ago. The Ottawa-based company signed a patent licensing agreement in January with consumer electronics giant Samsung on computer memory chips.
The five-year deal has an estimated value of between $50 million and $80 million. Mosaid shares rose 46 cents to $24.28.
Groupe Aeroplan Inc., which runs the Aeroplan points program for Air Canada and others, reported it had a $20.5 million profit in the fourth quarter. That compares with a $1.07-billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 when the firm recorded an accounting charge to reflect the impaired value of its assets amid a downturn in the global economy.
Groupe Aeroplan shares dropped 65 cents to $11.24, while Air Canada shares perked six cents to $1.57.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said building permits unexpectedly dropped 4.9% in January from the previous month. However, it noted that this value was 32.70% higher compared to a year ago.
The Canadian dollar settled back 0.01 cents to 96.94 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups, were negative to end the day. Metals and mining stocks suffered the worst, off 2%. Gold was next-worst at 1.8%, followed by materials, down 1.6%.
The three gainers were health-care stocks, up 1.4%, financials, gaining 1.1% and consumer staples, ahead 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 11.29 points to 1,541.84, while the Nasdaq Canada index lopped off 3.98 points to 756.61.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks managed slim gains Thursday as investors welcomed improved retail sales but showed caution after a worse-than-expected housing market report and ahead of Friday's jobs report.
The Dow Jones industrial average moved up 47.38 points to close at 10,444.14. The S&P 500 index gained 4.18 points to 1,122.97, and the Nasdaq composite improved 11.63 points to 2,292.31.
The major gauges rose in the morning, flattened out around midday and tried for small gains again in the afternoon.
The strong dollar dragged on dollar-traded commodities as well as on shares of companies that do a lot of business overseas, and therefore benefit from a weaker dollar.
Wall Street ended little changed Wednesday as investors remained cautious over the jobs outlook and the strength of the recovery. That caution remained in place Thursday.
Economically speaking, ahead of Friday's big non-farm payrolls report, investors digested the government's weekly tallies.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell to 469,000 last week from a revised 498,000 the previous week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought claims would fall to 470,000.
Continuing claims, a measure of Americans who have been receiving benefits for a week or more, fell to 4.5 million from a revised 4.634 million in the previous week. Economists thought claims would only drop to 4.6 million.
On Wednesday, reports from payroll services firm ADP and outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed the pace of job cuts is slowing as the labor market begins to stabilize.
Elsewhere, the January pending home sales index plunged 7.6% -- far worse than expected -- as brutal storms on the east coast kept potential buyers on the sidelines.
The report from the National Association of Realtors was a surprise to economists, who were expecting sales to rise 1%, on average, after rising a revised 0.8% in December.
Despite massive snow storms, shoppers picked up the pace in February, boosting total retail sales by 4%, according to sales tracker Thomson Reuters.
It was the sixth month in a row that same-store sales rose, providing the best monthly gains since November 2007, a month before the official start of the recession. The same-store sales figure is a retail industry metric that refers to sales that have been open for a year or more.
Among the standouts, clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch reported that same-store sales rose versus forecasts for a decline of 6.1%. Shares rallied 13%.
Factory orders climbed 1.7% in January, just shy of forecasts for a rise of 1.8%, the Commerce Department reported. Orders rose a revised 1.5% in the previous month.
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit thanked taxpayers for the $45 billion U.S. in aid his company received during the height of the recession, according to prepared testimony released ahead of a Congressional hearing. Citi shares gained 2%.
Treasury prices turned upward, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.60% from Wednesday’s 3.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil sagged 42 cents to $80.45 U.S.
Gold prices gave back $10 to $1,134 U.S.
