Equities in Canada’s largest market fell on Thursday after three straight days of gains, hurt by a clutch of downbeat corporate earnings reports.
The S&P/TSX Composite remained lower 79.32 points to move into noon hour ET at 16,532.52
The Canadian dollar drooped 0.02 cents to 76.08 cents U.S.
Teck Resources reported a quarterly profit slightly below analysts' estimates, hurt by lower copper and zinc prices. Shares of the company fell $1.04, or 3.4%, to $29.02.
Oil and gas producer Cenovus Energy fell 33 cents, or 2.7%, to $11.96, after the company missed quarterly profit estimates as the production cuts ordered by Alberta's provincial government hit output and higher Canadian crude prices hurt refining margins.
The materials sector, which includes precious metal miners, lost ground hurt by fall of 28 cents, or 7.2%, in shares of OceanaGold, to $3.60, after the miner reported quarterly results.
Celestica dropped 23 cents, or 2.5%, to $9.11.
In the cannabis sector -- Jushi Holdings (NEO: JUSH.B) today announced that its subsidiary Production Excellence, LLC has received local City of North Las Vegas authorization to enter the greater Las Vegas, Nevada market under a management services agreement with Franklin Bioscience NV, LLC. Pursuant to the transaction, Jushi has also completed the purchase of the real estate associated with Franklin Bioscience Nevada's facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada. As consideration for the acquisition, Production Excellence will purchase Franklin Bioscience NV, LLC's licenses and related real estate for an aggregate purchase price of US$9.0 million in a combination of US$6.4 million in cash and US$2.6 million in promissory notes.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,031 in May, up 1.1% from April.
The agency added earnings were up 3.4%, compared with 12 months earlier.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange cleared breakeven 0.79 points to 593.54
Eight of the 12 Toronto subgroups were still in the red by midday, with energy suffering 2.3%, materials waning 1.2%, and gold off 1.1%.
Four subgroups had climbed into positive territory, as consumer staples raced ahead 0.7%, while health-care and information technology inched up 0.2% each.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday as Wall Street digested the latest batch of corporate earnings results along with comments from the top European Central Bank official.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 120.77 to 27,149.20,
The S&P 500 dropped 14.85 points from Wednesday’s all-time high to 3,004.71
The NASDAQ lost touch with its all-time high as well, losing 63.31 points to 8,258.19
Ford shares slid 6.8% after its earnings fell short of estimates and its 2019 guidance disappointed investors. Boeing shares were battered again after reporting in the previous session a massive quarterly loss. Boeing dropped more than 3.5% after sliding 3.1% in Wednesday.
Facebook’s second-quarter earnings and revenue beat analyst expectations. The social media giant’s average revenue per user, a key metric for the company — came in at $7.05, well above a FactSet estimate of $6.87. The stock initially popped more than 1% before rolling over to trade 1.7% lower.
Shares of 3M, however, climbed 3.4% after the company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the previous quarter. CEO Mike Roman said the company cost-management efforts and improved cash flow contributed to the strong quarter.
About a third of S&P 500 companies have reported second-quarter earnings so far. Of those companies, 75% have posted a better-than-forecast profit. Alphabet, Amazon, Intel, Starbucks and Mattel are all scheduled to report after the close Thursday.
Wall Street also pored through comments from ECB President Mario Draghi ahead of a key Federal Reserve meeting next week.
Draghi said that there was not a significant risk of a recession in the region, something traders took to mean that proposed stimulus would not be as deep as expected. U.S. stock futures fell on the remarks while the euro ripped higher.
The Fed is scheduled to hold a monetary policy meeting July 30-31 in which a rate cut of at least 25 basis points is expected.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury demurred, lifting yields to 2.09% from Wednesday’s 2.05%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on 37 cents to $56.25 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surrendered $5.10 to $1,418.50 U.S. an ounce.
