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Stocks Slumps Soon after Opening
Equities in Canada’s biggest centre opened lower on Thursday as energy stocks, under pressure from falling oil prices, and Kirkland Lake Gold, led the declines.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gave back 39.17 points soon after Thursday’s opening to 15,761.23
The Canadian dollar demurred 0.19 cents to 80.09 cents U.S.
Kirkland Lake Gold shares plunged $1.49, or 8.1%, to $17.00
BlackBerry said on Thursday it signed a new license agreement with BLU Products Inc, a Florida-based maker of low-end Android phones, a pact that would end patent disputes between the two companies.
BlackBerry shares slipped four cents, or 1.7%, to $2.31.
Metro said on Wednesday it would sell a major portion of its stake in Alimentation Couche Tard to fund its $4.5-billion acquisition of pharmacy chain Jean Coutu Group.
Metro shares inched up four cents to $42.03. Couche Tard shares galloped $1.14, or 1.9%, to $60.08. Coutu shares were static at $24.94.
Canaccord Genuity cut the rating on Aphria to hold from speculative buy. Aphria shares slipped five cents to $7.79.
Canaccord then cut the rating on cannabis rival Canopy Growth to sell from hold. Canopy shares fell 12 cents to $13.47.
CIBC cut the rating on Gluskin Sheff + Associates to neutral from outperform. Gluskin shares docked 34 cents, or 2.1%, to $16.10.
On the data front, Statistics Canada said new house prices in Canada rose 3.8% year-over-year in August.
The agency says prices for new homes were unchanged in 15 of the 27 census metropolitan areas surveyed, including Toronto and Vancouver. For Toronto, this was the third consecutive month of flat readings.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 0.7 points begin Thursday at 790.62.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups moved lower in the first hour of trading, with energy plummeting 1.5%, health-care and gold skidding 0.6%.
The four gainers were led by consumer staples, up 0.5%, while industrials and information technology each climbed 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded slightly lower on Thursday, pulling back from record highs, as Wall Street digested earnings from some of the top financial companies.
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 18.03 points from Wednesday’s all-time high to 22,854.86, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most to the losses.
The S&P 500 backtracked 1.89 points from Wednesday’s peak to 2,553.35, with telecommunications and consumer discretionary leading decliners.
Equities have risen sharply this year, with the S&P 500 advancing 14% in that time period.
The NASDAQ inched ahead 0.66 points to improve on Wednesday’s record high to 6,604.21
JPMorgan Chase reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations. The banking giant, however, also reported a 27% year-over-year decline in fixed income trading revenue.
Citigroup also posted better-than-expected quarterly results, driven by growth in its global consumer business.
Other major financial companies slated to report this week include Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
Historically, this earnings season has been the best one for investors. Some media reported the S&P 500 posts a gain of 2.3% on average 30 days after third-quarter earnings season begins, trading in positive ranges 79% of the time.
Wall Street also set its sights on economic data Wednesday. The U.S. Labor Department said producer prices south of the line rose 0.4% last month and 2.6% in the 12 months through September.
Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims totaled 243,000, hitting a more than one-month low, the department also said.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 2.34% from Wednesday’s 2.35%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices skidded 96 cents a barrel to $50.34 U.S.
Gold prices gained $4.10 to $1,293.00 U.S. an ounce
