The Toronto stock market held onto gains Thursday, though the gains were limited by a retreat by most sectors in advance of a key speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 4.48 points to greet the closing bell Thursday at 14,630.72, after Wednesday’s 130-point-plus loss.
The Canadian dollar inched higher 0.06 at 77.42 cents U.S.
Eldorado Gold fell 11 cents, or 2.3%, to $4.60, Royal Bank of Canada slipped 49 cents to $81.37, and TD Bank was off six cents to $57.50.
Elsewhere in the gold sector, Barrick Gold gained 16 cents to $23.65, while Goldcorp tacked on three cents to $20.74.
Consumer staples, however, took some knocks, as Alimentation Couche-Tard fell 36 cents to $68.01, while Metro docked 38 cents to $45.07.
In the real-estate sector, Brookfield Asset Management skidded 50 cents, or 1.1%, to $43.77.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $958 in June, up 0.4% from the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, average weekly earnings increased 0.5%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange zoomed 12.34 points, or 1.6%, to end Thursday at 801.86
The 12 subgroups ended evenly split between gainers and losers, gold leading the former group, up 0.9%, materials better by 0.7%, and utilities up 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by consumer staples, down 0.7%, real-estate, descending 0.5%, and consumer discretionaries, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Equities south of the border closed lower Thursday, with health-care falling approximately 1%, a day ahead of a key speech from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 33.07 points to close at 18,448.41, with UnitedHealth Group leading decliners and Cisco Systems the top riser.
The S&P 500 dropped 2.97 points to 2,172.47, with health care leading five sectors lower and materials leading advancers.
The NASDAQ Composite settled 5.49 points to 5,212.20
Health-care issues fell Wednesday after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted about Mylan's price increases of the allergy drug EpiPen. Mylan shares were down more than 1% in afternoon trade.
In corporate news, Tiffany shares rose more than 6% to lead the S&P after posting quarterly earnings that easily beat expectations.
Meanwhile, discount retailers Dollar General and Dollar Tree saw their stocks falling after missing estimates on earnings, revenue and same-store sales.
Yellen is scheduled to speak Friday morning in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Investors also analyzed strong economic data released Thursday. Initial jobless claims fell for a third straight week to 61,000. Durable goods orders for July rose 4.4%, above expectations.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury lost ground, raising yields to 1.58% from Wednesday’s 1.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices grew 53 cents a barrel to $47.30 U.S.
Gold prices fell $4.40 at $1,325.30 U.S. an ounce.
