Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, weighed down by energy stocks as crude prices weakened after the International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its 2020 forecast for oil demand due to coronavirus-led travel restrictions.
IEA warned that reduced air travel due to the pandemic would lower global oil demand this year by 8.1 million barrels per day
The S&P/TSX Composite Index cooled off 16.25 points to greet noon Thursday at 16,559.03
The Canadian dollar picked up 0.14 cents to 75.64 cents U.S.
Altus Group jumped $8.88, or 21.4%, to $50.39, while ECN Capital rose 47 cents, or 9.2%, to $5.57, after the companies reported their quarterly results.
Great Canadian Gaming fell $1.37, or 4.5%, to $28.88, after posting a quarterly loss of 57 Canadian cents per share.
The second biggest decliner was Brookfield Asset Management, down 92 cents, 2.1%, to $43.97, after it reported a loss of 43 cents per share in the quarter.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange kept climbing 13.5 points, or 1.9%, to pause for lunch Thursday at 739.21.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative, energy behaving 1.5% less energetically, while financials and communications each staggered 0.7%.
The five gainers were led by gold, shining 3.1% brighter, materials, stronger by 2.5%. and consumer staples, 0.5% more solid.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were little changed on Thursday as the S&P 500 traded just below a record high and traders digested better-than-expected unemployment data.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained red 29.4 points to 27,947.44
The S&P 500 inched up 4.22 points to 3,384.57
The NASDAQ jumped 99.34 points to 11,111.58.
Cisco Systems dropped more than 11% on the back of disappointing earnings guidance to lead the Dow lower. Stocks of companies that would benefit from the economy reopening struggled as well. Gap dipped 2.4%. American Airlines and Southwest slid 1.3%. Meanwhile, shares of Apple gained 1%. Facebook and Amazon were also higher.
Initial weekly jobless claims fell to 963,000, the U.S. Labor Department said. That’s below a Dow Jones estimate of 1.1 million. It was also the first time since late March that jobless claims came in below one million.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury demurred, raising yields to 0.68% from Wednesday’s 0.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices slid 32 cents to $42.35 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained $5.70 to $1,954.70 U.S. an ounce.
