Stocks in Canada’s largest centre took a breather from its win streak at the opening on Thursday, dragged by a dip in the materials index, with Iamgold plunging on cutting full-year production guidance.
The TSX Composite index slumped 46 points to open Thursday at 20,064.05.
The Canadian dollar doffed 0.10 cents to 79.44 cents U.S.
As for Iamgold, that stock plummeted 53 cents, or 15%, to $3.01.
Elsewhere, National Bank of Canada raised the target price on CGI to $135.00 from $120.00. CGI shares took on 30 cents to $113.56.
CIBC raised the target price on Premium Brands Holdings to $127.00 from $120.00. Premium shares dipped 74 cents to $127.85.
JP Morgan raised the target price on Rogers Communications to $78.00 from $72.00. Rogers dipped 24 cents to $64.19.
Washington extended the closure of land borders with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel such as tourism through Aug. 21 even as officials debate whether to require visitors to have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged up 0.36 points to 908.88.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative soon after the opening bell, with health-care waning 2%, gold down 1.7%, and materials fading 1.3%.
The three gainers were industrials, up 0.5%, information technology, eking up 0.3%, and utilities, better by 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were flat as an unexpected jump in jobless claims kept investors on edge about the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials handed back 33.47 points, to begin Thursday at 34,764.53.
The Dow is up slightly on the week and sits about 1% from a record high.
The S&P 500 inched up 1.66 points to 4,360.53
The NASDAQ added 34.28 points to 14,666.23.
Names closely linked to the economic reopening were lower on Thursday morning. Royal Caribbean is down 1.5%. Energy stocks rallied this week as oil rebounded back above $70 a barrel, however, the Energy Select SPDR fell about 1%. Bank shares are trading slightly in the red.
American Airlines posted a profit for the second-quarter before the trading session started, snapping a streak of five straight quarters with losses, thanks to the recovery in travel demand and government aid. The shares, which were up 8% this week, are down Thursday by about 1.6%.
Similarly, Southwest Airlines reported a quarterly profit before the bell, but the carrier’s stock slipped 2.7%.
Union Pacific, meanwhile, traded up more than 2% after reporting second-quarter net income of $1.8 billion or $2.72 per diluted share.
That’s up from $1.1 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter.
Abbott Laboratories and homebuilder D.R. Horton traded in the red after issuing quarterly results before the bell.
A strong second-quarter earnings reporting season continues, with AT&T shares gaining slightly after earnings and revenue topped analyst estimates. CSX jumped over 4% after the railroad’s second-quarter profit more than doubled.
However, Texas Instruments is weighing on tech shares, down roughly 5%. The chipmaker topped expectations for the second quarter, but warned that third quarter results could fall short of analysts’ estimates.
A busy week of earnings will continue on Thursday. Intel, Twitter, Snap and Capital One will post quarterly updates after the market closes.
So far 15% of the S&P 500 has reported earnings, with 88% beating earnings estimates. Of the companies that have reported, 84% have topped revenue expectations.
Jobless claims unexpectedly rose to 419,000 last week, higher than the 350,000 economists polled by Dow Jones estimated and more than the upwardly revised 368,000 from the previous period, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. The 10-year Treasury yield ticked lower after the report.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys regained ground, lowering yields to 1.27% from Wednesday’s 1.30%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on 34 cents to $70.64 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $2.40 to $1,801.00 U.S. an ounce.
