Canada's main stock index was subdued on Thursday, as declines in healthcare and financial shares outweighed gains in energy stocks.
The TSX regained 63.53 points to break for lunch Thursday at 33,453.26.
The Canadian dollar eased 0.02 cents at 72.99 cents U.S.
Health-care shares led sectoral declines, though specialty pharma firm Bausch Health nicked up five cents to $8.56 after reporting a quarterly loss.
In after-market earnings on Wednesday, Nutrien missed quarterly profit estimates on lower crop nutrient volumes. Nutrien shares trekked 57 cents higher to $96.90.
Among miners, Kinross Gold and Teck Resources beat quarterly profit estimates. Kinross shares docked $1.19, or 2.5%, to $46.17, while Teck lost $2.66, or 3.3%, to $78.68.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this country’s merchandise exports increased 2.6% in December, while imports were up 0.6%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $2.6 billion in November to $1.3 billion in December.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gathered 11.4 points, or 1.1%, to 1,007.89
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative midday, with health-care pointing downward 0.7%, telecoms lower 0.6%, and financials off 0.5%.
The five gainers were led by energy, soaring 2%, industrials, better by 0.5%, and gold, shinier 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday, giving back some of the gains from the previous session, as investors weighed the latest quarterly results from Walmart and monitored simmering tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 225.11 points to 49,437.55.
The S&P 500 moved down 19.87 points to 6,861.44.
The NASDAQ ditched 26.22 points to 22,727.42.
Losses were kept in check by Walmart shares, which were higher after the company’s fourth-quarter results exceeded analyst expectations. However, its full-year earnings outlook fell short.
Investors remained on edge as crude prices extended gains amid a standoff between Iran and the U.S. over the former’s nuclear program.
Alongside asset managers, software was another area under pressure. Salesforce shares were lower by more than 1%, while Intuit shares fell 2%. Shares of Cadence Design Systems declined 3%.
The group has become a sore spot for the market lately as investors fear that artificial intelligence will disrupt the industry. In fact, Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch told the media Wednesday that more than 50% of enterprises’ software could be replaced by the technology.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slid, bringing yields up to 4.08% from Wednesday’s 4.07%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained $1.60 Thursday to $66.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $2.70 to $5,012.20 U.S. an ounce.
