Baystreet.ca - Canada's main stock index opened lower on Thursday, hurt by financials stocks, as heavyweight TD Bank slipped after missing analysts' estimates for fourth-quarter profit.
The TSX gained a meagre 28.42 points to begin Thursday at 25,669.60
The Canadian dollar was better by 0.24 cents to 71.3 cents U.S.
Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) reported a drop in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday due to increased provisions for potential loan losses, while Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) reported a rise as it set aside smaller funds for the same purpose.
BMO shares climbed 75 cents to $134.90, while those for CIBC (TSX:CM) gained $3.91, or 4.4%, to $93.48.
Meanwhile, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD) is also expected to report quarterly results before the bell. TD shares sagged $4.30, or 5.4%, to $75.36.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada our merchandise exports increased 1.1% and imports rose 0.5% in October. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $1.3 billion in September to $924 million in October.
Moreover, it appears traders have fully priced in a rate cut by the Bank of Canada next week but remain conflicted on the magnitude.
The IVEY School of Business is also slated to put out its Purchasing Managers Index for November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 2.96 points to 614.54.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly split in the first hour, with consumer staples picking up 1%, utilities better 08%, and energy surging 0.7%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by gold, down 0.8%, while real-estate dipped 0.4%, while materials slid 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were relatively unchanged on Thursday following a record day for equities, while bitcoin also reached all-time highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial index faded 91.51 points to 44,922.53
The S&P 500 subsided 5.38 points to 6,081.11.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite dipped 2.9 points to 19,732.15.
Bitcoin traded more than 3% higher, breaking above $100,000 for the first time. The move led crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy higher 0.7% while Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) rose 3%.
This comes as first-time filings for jobless benefits for the week ending Nov. 30 rose by 9,000 to 224,000, higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 215,000. On the other hand, the level of continuing claims, which run a week behind, edged lower by 25,000 to 1.871 million.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dropped, raising yields to 4.21% from Wednesday’s 4.19%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gathered 27 cents to $68.81 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold dropped $17.30 an ounce to $2,658.90 U.S.