Stocks in Canada’s biggest centre remained lower in midday trade on Thursday as energy stocks mostly gained and investors reacted to a string of earnings reports.
The S&P/TSX Composite settled 31.76 points to greet noon at 14,514.78
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.06 cents to 75.9 cents U.S.
The most influential gainers included Cenovus Energy, which rose 4.2% to $18.23 after posting a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss, and First Quantum Minerals Ltd, which jumped 9.6% to $11.40.
The energy group climbed despite a fall in crude oil, while the materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost ground
Teck Resources, the largest producer of steelmaking coal in North America, gained 6.7% to $20.18 after reporting a surprise quarterly profit as its costs declined.
TransCanada Corp. rose 0.9% to $60.00 after reporting a slightly higher-than-expected quarterly profit.
The biggest weights included Potash Corp, which fell 5% to $21.44 after cutting its full-year profit forecast and dividend for a second time this year.
Uranium producer Cameco Corp fell 7.6% to $12.96 after reporting a surprise quarterly loss due to weak uranium demand and prices.
Open Text Corp fell 6% to $77.81 after its earnings report.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly were $956 in May, up 0.2% from the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, average weekly earnings increased 0.9%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was still positive 2.22 points to 783.93
Eight of the 13 subgroups were positive in the first hour, as metals and mining gained 4.3%, energy was better by 1%, and utilities improved 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by information technology, down 1.3%, consumer discretionary issues, off 1.2%, and health-care, down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly lower Thursday, the busiest day of the earnings season, as sharp declines in shares of Ford Motor offset gains in tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrials swooned 62.94 points to 18,409.23, with Boeing having the greatest negative impact on the index. Caterpillar, Chevron and Exxon Mobil also weighed on the index as most components traded lower.
The S&P 500 fell 2.35 points to 2,164.23, with telecommunications leading eight sectors lower and information technology and financials the only gainers.
The NASDAQ Composite recovered 3.24 points to 5,143.05. Apple was about 1% higher in mid-morning trade Thursday.
Ford posted quarterly earnings that missed expectations and said its full-year earnings forecast was at risk with U.S. auto sales expected to fall in the second half. Shares fell more than 9.5% in mid-morning trade and were tracking for their worst day since January 2011.
Facebook reported quarterly earnings that soundly beat on both the top and bottom line, helped by better-than-expected ad revenue.
Shares briefly jumped 4% to hit an all-time intraday high and were last about 3% higher.
Amazon.com and Alphabet are among those scheduled to report after the close.
In economic news, weekly jobless claims rose to 266,000. The U.S. advance June goods trade deficit was $63.3 billion, up from $61.1 billion in May.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury regained ground, lowering yields to Wednesday’s 1.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 59 cents a barrel to $41.33 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $4.60 to $1,331.50 U.S. an ounce.
