Canadian mining and energy companies remained negative Thursday as gold and oil prices declined, dragging Canada’s resource-heavy market into the red.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came off its lows of the day, but ended the day down 30.32 points to 13,389.42
The Canadian dollar settled back 0.11 cents to 103.88 cents U.S.
In the precious-metals sector, Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc.’s stock dropped 14 cents to $45.91, while Kinross Gold Corp. shares fell eight cents to $13.89, but Silver Wheaton Corp. gained a penny to $32.66.
Shares of base-metals miner Lundin Mining Corp. fell 18 cents to $8.59, but copper-miner Teck Resources Limited gained 24 cents to $45.74.
Canadian energy companies also took a hit from lower crude-oil futures, which extended losses from the previous session. The International Energy Agency on Thursday warned that high oil prices are resulting in lower demand.
Shares of Calgary-based Suncor Energy, the country’s largest oil-and-gas producer, fell 47 cents to $38.84, followed closely behind by a 22-cent decline in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited, whose closing price was $40.02.
In the consumer-discretionary sector, shares of quick-service restaurant chain Tim Hortons Inc. fell $2.05, or 4.3%, to $45.82, after the company reported first-quarter earnings below analysts’ estimates.
Among Canadian financial stocks, Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest financial institution, eked out a gain of two cents to $58.37 while shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank declined 76 cents, or 0.9%, to $81.58.
Other notable Canadian market movers include fertilizer giant Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, down $1.03, or 2.1%, to $49.17, and aircraft maker Bombardier Inc., up 18 cents or 2.7%, to $6.87.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that new home prices in Canada were unchanged in March following a 0.4% increase in February, marking only the second flat reading since August 2010.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dumped 20.23 points to 2,049.99 while the Nasdaq Canada index stumbled 1.52 points to 667.54
In Toronto, nine of the 14 subgroups were down on the day. Utilities and materials were off 0.8% each, while information technology issues slumped 0.7%.
The five gainers were led by industrials and telecoms, each up 0.8%, and global base metals, advancing 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities followed commodities, rebounding from their lows and turning higher Thursday afternoon.
The Dow Jones industrial average had recovered 65.89 points by the end of the day to 12,695.90
The S&P 500 picked up 6.57 points to 1,348.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained back 17.98 points to 2,863.04
Stocks had started the day in sell mode, weighed down by lower commodity prices and a dour outlook from Cisco Systems. But the momentum shifted midday as commodities erased earlier losses and as the dollar pulled back against the euro.
Meanwhile, shares of big oil companies Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell, BP also stabilized as the companies' CEOs defended their tax breaks before Congress.
Shares of Cisco Systems fell more than 4%, dragging on all three indexes. The Dow component posted better-than-expected earnings after the bell Wednesday, but CEO John Chambers issued a tepid outlook for the coming quarter.
Shares of Kohl's rose 3.9% after the department store chain posted a $211-million U.S. quarterly profit, up 6% from a year earlier, as sales rose 3% to $4.2 billion U.S. Kohl's also raised its full-year outlook.
Nordstrom was on tap to report quarterly results after the closing bell.
On the economic front, the number of people who filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the most recent week fell to 434,000, down from the previous week but worse than economists' expectations.
Initial unemployment claims have been stuck above the key 400,000 level for four weeks.
Offsetting that bad news was retail sales, which rose 0.5% in April, according to the Commerce Department. But the bulk of the gains came from increasing gas and food prices so the optimism may fade.
Also, the Commerce Department said business inventories rose 1% in March. Economists were expecting inventories to rise 0.9% during the month, after a 0.7% increase in February.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury stumbled, raising yields to 3.23% from Wednesday’s 3.16%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for June delivery fell back four cents to $98.83 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices also turned higher, rising 0.4% to $1.507.40 U.S. an ounce. Silver remained in the red, but was only off 2% to $34.80 U.S. an ounce.
