Equities opened higher on Thursday, buoyed by China's decision to halve additional tariffs levied on some U.S. goods, but gains were capped by losses in energy stocks due to lower oil prices.
The TSX Composite Index eked higher 21.45 points to open Thursday at 17,673.04
The Canadian dollar lopped off 0.03 cents to 75.22 cents U.S.
Barrick Gold’s CEO says his company is not looking to merge with copper miner Freeport-McMoran, although he is interested in the company's Grasberg mine in Indonesia, and indicated he wants to expand in the Pacific Rim.
Shares in the world’s largest gold company acquired 38 cents, or 1.6%, to $24.33.
Suncor Energy, Canada's second-largest oil and gas producer, posted a wider quarterly loss on Wednesday, dented by a significant one-time impairment charge. Suncor shares dropped $1.59, or 3.9%, to $39.41.
TD Securities cut the price target on MEG Energy to $9.00 from $9.50. MEG shares lost 41 cents, or 5.4%, to $7.14.
TD Securities raised the price target on ECN Capital to $7.00 from $6.50. ECN shares gained 11 cents, or 1.8%, to $6.16.
Eight Capital cut the price target on Gran Tierra Energy to $3.00 from $3.50. Gran Tierra shares docked five cents, or 3.9%, to $1.25.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 1.49 points to begin Thursday to 576.36.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive to start out, with utilities and communications stocks soaring 0.8% each, and consumer staples picking up 0.7%.
The three laggards were energy, fading 2.1%, consumer discretionary stocks down 0.3%, and health-care, sliding 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were little changed on Thursday, easing from record levels, as investors digested a tariff cut from China along with a raft of earnings and solid economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 26.99 points to 29,317.84, after hitting a record high at the open.
The S&P 500 added 7.29 points at 3,342.12,
The NASDAQ took on 33.92 points to 9,542.60.
The corporate earnings season continued with Twitter and and Bristol-Myers Squibb releasing their quarterly numbers. Twitter shares jumped more than 12% on its results while Bristol traded higher by 1.8%.
More than 60% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings thus far, with 71% of them beating analyst expectations. The overall earnings growth rate has been low, but it is better than the more-than 4% contraction initially expected.
On the data front, weekly jobless claims stateside fell to a nine-month low last week, reaching 202,000. The data follows better-than-forecast private payrolls numbers from ADP and Moody’s Analytics.
China announced overnight it will halve tariffs on U.S. imports totaling about $75 billion. China’s finance ministry said the tariff cut was timed in conjunction with a U.S. decision last month to halve tariffs on roughly $120 billion worth of Chinese products.
Tariffs on some U.S. goods will be cut from 10% to 5%, and from 5% to 2.5% on others, which will take effect on Feb. 14.
That decision was made as part of a broader “phase one” trade deal between China and the U.S. The agreement put the U.S.-China trade war, which had been hurting global growth prospects, on hold. President Donald Trump has said previously a phase-two agreement would be struck at a later date.
The cut also comes after the coronavirus death toll in China rose to 563, with a total of 28,018 cases confirmed as drugmakers race to find a vaccine.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury hesitated a bit, raising yields to 1.66% closer to Wednesday’s 1.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eked up three cents to $50.78 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices advanced $4.10 to $1,566.90 U.S. an ounce.
