Canada’s main stock index fell on Thursday as energy stocks were hit by lower crude prices and disappointing earnings from Suncor Energy.
The TSX Composite Index retreated 68.07 points to greet noon Thursday at 16,433.36
The Canadian dollar eked higher 0.04 cents to 75.99 cents U.S.
Suncor Energy slipped 99 cents, or 2.5%, to $38.72 after the second-largest Canadian oil and gas producer’s reported disappointing third-quarter profits
Pretium Resources dived $2.93, or 18.2%, to $13.15, after the miner reported worse-than-expected quarterly results.
On the other hand, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc jumped $3.54, or 17.9%, to $23.29, after quarterly results beat estimates and the company named interim head Ian Edwards as its chief executive officer.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that real gross domestic product edged up 0.1% in August, following no change in July.
Goods-producing industries were up 0.2% after two months of declines, led by a rebound in manufacturing, while services-producing industries edged up 0.1%.
Overall, there were gains in 14 out of 20 industrial sectors.
The agency’s Industrial Product Price Index edged down 0.1% in September, primarily as a result of lower prices for meat, fish and dairy products.
The Raw Materials Price Index was unchanged from August. Higher prices for crude energy products were mostly offset by lower prices for animals and animal products.
Finally, the average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,035 in August, up 0.6% from July. StatsCan added that, compared with August 2018, earnings increased by 2.9%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged higher 1.03 at 539.28
All but two of the 12 Toronto subgroups were lower, with energy down 2.3%, financials off 0.5%, and information technology dropping 0.4%.
The two gainers were gold, up 1.2%, and utilities, up 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell Thursday despite better-than-expected earnings from Facebook and Apple and the Federal Reserve’s third rate cut of 2019. Investors took a pause and turned their focus to U.S.-China trade negotiations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 217.8 points to pause for noon at 26,968.89
The S&P 500 sank 18.02 points to 3,028.75
The NASDAQ Composite Index flopped 33.8 points to 8,270.17
Media reports circulated Thursday that Chinese officials have been casting doubt over the possibility of a long-term trade deal with the U.S. The report added Chinese officials are concerned about President Donald Trump’s “impulsive nature” and the risk of him backing out of any kind of deal.
Trade bellwether Caterpillar dropped 2.2% along with Micron Technology.
Wall Street also cheered strong earnings from Apple and Facebook.
Apple shares rose 1.7% after the tech giant posted earnings per share of $3.03 on revenue of $64 billion. Analysts expected a profit of $2.84 per share on sales of $62.99 billion. The company’s iPhone and services revenues also topped estimates.
Facebook, meanwhile, climbed more than 2% after the social-media company reported a profit of $2.12 per share, topping an estimate of $1.91 per share. Facebook also reported stronger-than-expected average revenue per user.
So far, two thirds of the S&P 500 have reported quarterly numbers. Of those companies, 75% posted better-than-expected results
In other corporate news, Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler (FCA) announced a landmark merger with French rival PSA Peugeot Citroen, which will create the world’s fourth-largest car maker.
FCA will pay its shareholders a 5.5-billion-euro ($6.1-billion U.S.) special dividend and the two companies will join forces through a 50-50 share swap. The new company’s shares will be listed in New York, Paris and Milan.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 1.71% from Wednesday’s 1.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 92 cents to $54.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $16.20 to $1,512.90 U.S. an ounce.
