TSX Doggedly Keeps Gains

Equities in Canada’s largest centre managed to hang onto gains accumulated on Thursday as upbeat corporate earnings from the country buoyed investor sentiment, while a rise in base and precious metal prices boosted shares of miners.

The TSX remained higher 16.45 points to move into noon hour at 20,695.99.

The Canadian dollar was in the green 0.08 cents at 74.44 cents U.S.

Brookfield Corporation gained 74 cents, or 1.5%, to $50.16, after the company reported a rise in fourth-quarter operating funds from operations,

In other earnings, Thomson Reuters fell $4.83, or 3.1%, to $152.89, as the company reported higher quarterly sales and operating profit but cautioned of a weakening global economic environment.

Canopy Growth plummeted 60 cents, or 16.4%, to $3.07, as the cannabis producer posted a bigger third-quarter core loss and said it
would reduce its workforce by about 60%.

Bombardier fell $1.36, or 2%, to $66.72, even as the business jet maker forecast higher business jet deliveries for 2023.

Colliers International Group jumped $11.85, or 8%, to $160.00 and the top of the TSX as the real estate services firm projected 2023 adjusted profit above analysts' forecast.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange eked higher 0.49 points to 622.96.

The 12 subgroups were evenly divided midday Thursday, as real-estate triumphed 1%, consumer staples up 0.9% and consumer discretionary stocks ahead 0.3%.

The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by health-care, sliding 2.9%, while communications and gold stocks each faded 0.9%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks rose Thursday after the latest crop of corporate earnings came in better than previously feared.

The Dow Jones Industrials gave up much of its early-morning gains, but remained positive 53.53 points at 34,002.54.

The S&P 500 nicked higher 4.97 points to 4,122.79.

The NASDAQ Composite hung onto gains of 17.53 points to 11,928.05.

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Disney shares gained more than 2% after the company posted smaller-than-expected subscriber losses at its streaming service along with earnings and revenue that beat analyst estimates. CEO Bob Iger told the media Thursday that he was only expecting to stay in the role for two years, while activist investor Nelson Peltz said he was ending a proxy battle after the company unveiled a restructuring plan that included 7,000 layoffs and a reorganization of its divisions.

PepsiCo advanced more than 1% on the back of fourth-quarter earnings that came in above Wall Street expectations.

Investors have been watching earnings season closely for insight on how companies have fared amid high inflation and how how they expect to perform going forward. But despite the latest batch of company reports, Wall Street has considered this earnings season lackluster.

Nearly 70% of the approximately two-thirds of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten analyst expectations. That beat rate is below a three-year average of 79%.

PayPal, Lyft and Expedia will report after the market closes.

The number of weekly jobless claims reported Thursday jumped by 13,000 to 196,000, which is more than expected and ran contrary to a recent string of job data indicating the labour market remained stubbornly hot. Treasury yields fell after the data as investors bet that maybe the job market would cool enough for the Fed to slow its hiking campaign further.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury galloped, lowering yields to 3.59% from Wednesday’s 3.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices dipped 74 cents to $77.73 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices backtracked $6.70 to $1,884.00 U.S. an ounce.