The first hour of trading Thursday proved a roller-coaster one in Toronto, for as global economic worries mount.
The S&P/TSX composite index recovered from a loss of more than 240 points in the early going, but was still negative 38.84 points to open Thursday at 13,831.04
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.38 cents at 88.49 cents U.S.
Raymond James cut the rating on Candente Copper Corp. to underperform from market perform. Candente shares crept up a cent to 13.5 cents.
RBC raised the rating on Westshore Terminals Investment to outperform from sector perform. Westshore shares rocketed $2.21, or 7.3%, to $32.50.
Barclays started coverage of Teck Resources with an equal-weight rating, and a price target of $23.00. Teck shares dipped 45 cents, or 2.5%, to $17.47.
Economically speaking, Canadian manufacturing sales fell 3.3% in August to $52.1 billion, the first decline in 2014.
Statistics Canada also reported that foreign investment in Canadian securities totaled $10.3 billion in August and included both debt and equity instruments. Canadian investment in foreign securities decelerated from July, with holdings largely unchanged as acquisitions of non-U.S. foreign instruments were offset by a divestment in U.S. instruments.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 5.62 points to 772.74.
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower in the first hour, as global base metals fell 1.4%, metals and mining dipped 1.2%, and telecoms shed 0.8% of their strength.
The five gainers were led by energy and gold, each picking up 0.6%, and industrials, up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The selloff in U.S. stocks resumed on Thursday, as fears that the market has farther to fall outweighed better-than-expected earnings and upbeat economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 135.25 points to begin the session at 16,006.49.
The main benchmark erased year-to-date gains and is a few percentage points away from being in correction territory (that is., a decline of at least 10% from its peak)
The S&P 500 fell back 14.09 points to 1,848.40. The NASDAQ index backtracked 65.70 points to 4,149.62.
Initial weekly jobless claims dropped to the lowest level in more than 14 years, while industrial production climbed 1% in September.
The results season continued at full speed on Thursday, with a heavy lineup ahead of the opening bell.
Goldman Sachs reported third-quarter earnings of $4.57, beating a consensus estimate from FactSet of $3.21, but reported higher expenses. Shares fell 2%.
Delta Air Lines rose 2.6% after reporting third-quarter results.
Tobacco maker Philip Morris International reported third-quarter profit that topped expectations, but cut its full-year outlook citing the negative impact from the currency markets. Shares were little changed.
Toy maker Mattel Inc. posted earnings and sales that fell short of expectations as gross sales of its flagship Barbie doll fell 21% world-wide. Shares dropped 4.6%.
United Health Group Inc. reported third-quarter profit of $1.63 U.S. a share, beating estimates of EPS of $1.53 U.S. Shares rose 4.5%.
Baker Hughes Inc. shares dropped 9.4% after the oil-field-services company reported earnings per share that fell short of forecasts.
Netflix Inc. shares sank 23%, after the video-streaming company on Wednesday said its new-subscriber count fell short of its forecast of 3.69 million. It added 3.02 million new members during the quarter.
EBay Inc. lost 5% after the online retailer late Wednesday reported third-quarter earnings fell to $673 million U.S., or 54 cents a share, from $837 million U.S., or 53 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
Apple Inc. was down 1.8%, ahead of a scheduled event where the tech giant is expected to launch new iPads and the latest in the iMac line.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries slipped slightly, raising yields to 2.10% from Wednesday’s 2.09%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices staggered $1.27 to $80.51 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subsided $6.70 to $1,238.10 U.S. an ounce.
