Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, as Iamgold Corp plunged 15% on lowering its outlook, while rising worries about the Delta coronavirus variant also weighed.
The TSX Composite index remained in the red 29.6 points to pause for lunch Thursday at 20,080.45.
The Canadian dollar docked 0.09 cents to 79.46 cents U.S.
Iamgold removed 36 cents, or 10.2%, to hit a 16-month low of $3.18, and slid to the bottom of the TSX, after the company lowered its full-year production outlook, citing lower output at its Westwood and Rosebel mines.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were CAE, which jumped $1.54, or 4.2%, to $38.14, on being added to the S&P TSX 60 index, and Mullen Group, which rose 52 cents, or 4.1%, to $13.22, after its second-quarter earnings topped estimates.
Lithium Americas fell 70 cents, or 3.9%, to $17.16, ahead of a court ruling next week that will determine whether to block the company from excavating its Thacker Pass site in Nevada.
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 0.26 points to 908.78.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative into noon hour, with health-care waning 2.5%, while real-estate and energy each suffered 0.9%.
The three gainers were information technology up 0.6%, industrials, ahead 0.5%, and utilities, better by 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were mostly flat as an unexpected jump in jobless claims kept investors on edge about the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained in the red 48.57 points, to 34,749.43.
The Dow is up slightly on the week and sits about 1% from a record high.
The S&P 500 drifted lower 2.09 points to 4,356.61
The NASDAQ added 22.03 points to 14,651.70.
Investors are going back into their favorite tech stocks as worries about the economy resurface and yields fell lower. Apple and Microsoft, which are scheduled to report earnings next week, are trading about 1.5% higher. Amazon is trading almost 1% higher.
Still, a strong second-quarter earnings reporting season continues, with American Airlines posting a profit for the second-quarter, 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 slightly on Thursday. Similarly, Southwest Airlines reported a quarterly profit, but the carrier’s stock is 1.7% lower.
Union Pacific, 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.
AT&T also gained slightly after earnings and revenue topped analyst estimates and CSX jumped over 4% after the railroad’s second-quarter profit more than doubled.
Intel, Twitter, Snap and Capital One will post quarterly updates after the market closes.
Texas Instruments is down roughly 5%, however, after the chipmaker topped expectations for the second quarter, but warned that third quarter results could fall short of analysts’ estimates.
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.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys regained ground, lowering yields to 1.24% from Wednesday’s 1.30%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on 68 cents to $70.98 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained $3.70 to $1,807.10 U.S. an ounce.
