Indices in Canada’s largest centre opened lower on Thursday, weighed down by energy stocks as oil weakened on concerns of a slowdown in fuel demand recovery due to a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
The TSX lost 62.36 points to open Thursday at 16,515.02.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.08 cents to 75.61 cents U.S.
Bank of Nova Scotia has agreed to pay more than $127 million to resolve a series of U.S. regulatory charges, including over an alleged price manipulation scheme involving unlawful trading of precious metals futures contracts.
Scotiabank sank 32 cents to $56.26.
National Bank of Canada raised the target price on Ballard Power Systems to $20.00 from $18.00. Ballard shares plunged $1.62, or 7.7%, to $19.46.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 1.48 points to 738.47.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups fell behind Thursday, with energy sliding 2.3%, health-care stumbling 1.5%, and consumer discretionary the worse off by 0.6%.
The four gainers were led by gold, better by 0.8%, real-estate, pointing upward 0.4%, and information technology, 0.3% above breakeven.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks traded lower on Thursday as concern about the economy grew among traders following the release of disappointing unemployment data and a dour economic outlook from the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 82 points at the outset to 27,610.88.
The S&P 500 demurred 3.25 points at 3,371.60
The NASDAQ recovered 39.63 points to 11,186.09.
Nvidia shares pulled back by 1.9% even after reporting blowout results. A better-than-expected 50% jump in revenue last quarter still wasn’t enough to lift the stock, which has doubled this year. Investors are growing concerned about valuations for high flying tech shares.
Intel shares gained 3.9% after the company announced an accelerated buyback plan, calling its stock cheap.
Weekly jobless claims stateside totaled 1.106 million last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported. Economists estimate that 923,000 first-time applicants filed for unemployment benefits during the week ended Aug. 15. In the week prior, the tally had dropped below one million for the first time since mid-March.
The jump in unemployment claims came as lawmakers struggled to move forward on a new coronavirus stimulus bill. Recently, an additional unemployment benefit for those impacted by the pandemic expired.
Thursday’s data release comes a day after the Federal Reserve released its July meeting minutes which said, “the ongoing public health crisis would weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term.”
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury rose sharply, weighing yields to 0.64% from Wednesday’s 0.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices faded $1.30 at $41.63 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $30.40 to $1,939.70 U.S. an ounce.