TSX Flat by Close - InvestingChannel

TSX Flat by Close

Stocks in Canada’s largest market came to within a few points of breaking even to end Thursday, but could not quite overcome losses in the health-care sector.

The TSX Composite index remained in the red 12.53 points by the closing bell to 20,097.52.

The Canadian dollar gained 4.5 cents to 79.59 cents U.S.

Health-care concerns experienced the biggest losses on the day, with Trilium Therapeutics surrendering 57 cents, or 5.8%, to $9.29, while Tilray dropped 82 cents, or 4.5%, to $17.52.

Real-estate took a wallop, too, with units of Riocan REIT down 41 cents, or 1.8%, to $22.22, while First Capital REIT off 30 cents, or 1.7%, to $17.81.

Materials were shaken, up Dundee Precious Metals sliding 17 cents, or 2.3%, to $7.27, while Agnico Eagle Mines 92 cents, or 1.2%, to the bad, at $75.88.

While the gold sector did not take the biggest lumps, Iamgold was among the worst-bruised stocks of the bunch, shedding 39 cents, or 11%, to hit a 16-month low of $3.15, 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.

Tech stocks tried to balance things out, with Evertz Technology added 24 cents, or 1.7%, to $14.10, while Shopify Inc. raced ahead $28.00, or 1.4%, to $2,000.01.

In the industrial sector, Mullen Group prospered 67 cents, or 5.3%, to $13.17, while CAE moved higher $1.86, or 5.1%, to $38.46.

In real-estate, Colliers International climbed 50 cents to $148.10, while Real Matters added three cents to $15.71.

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 eked up 1.44 points to 909.96.

Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative to close the day, with health-care waning 2.6%, while real-estate docked 0.7%, and materials skidded 0.4%.

The four gainers were led by information technology up 0.4%, industrials, ahead 0.3%, and utilities, better by 0.1%.

ON WALLSTREET

Tech shares led U.S. stocks higher Thursday, despite an unexpected jump in jobless claims that resurfaced some concerns about the economy and sent bond yields lower.

The Dow Jones Industrials overcame the negatives and moved into the green 25.35 points to end the day at 34,823.35.

The 30-stock index is up 0.3% on the week and sits less than 1% from a record high, bouncing back from a 700-point-plus rout on Monday.

The S&P 500 regained 8.79 points to 4,367.48

The NASDAQ added 52.64 points to 14,684.60.

Investors jumped back into their favorite tech stocks as optimism about the sector grows ahead of big earnings reports next week for some of the largest names in the space. Salesforce is 2.5% higher while Amazon and Facebook are each 1.4% higher.

Microsoft rose 1.6% after Citi raised its price target, saying the tech giant has the potential to beat Wall Street expectations when it reports quarterly earnings next week. Citi predicted the stock will rise more than 30% over the next year. Apple rose almost 1% after Cannacord Genuity said there was “strong demand” for Apple products ahead of its earnings next week.

The overall market continues to grind higher, led sometimes by value stocks when economic optimism is high and on days such as Thursday, tech shares take over the lead.

Banks stocks, which are typically viewed as cyclical stocks whose performance is tied to the path of the economy, were down with JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo shedding more than 1%.

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 1% on Thursday. Similarly, Southwest Airlines reported a quarterly profit, but the carrier’s stock is more than 3% lower.

Union Pacific, traded up more than 1% 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.

CSX jumped more than 3% after the railroad’s second-quarter profit more than doubled. AT&T shares are slightly higher after earnings and revenue topped analyst estimates.

Texas Instruments is down more than 5% after the chipmaker topped expectations for the second quarter, but warned that third quarter results could fall short of analysts’ estimates.

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.

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 jumped $1.41 to $71.71 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices regained four dollars to $1,807.40 U.S. an ounce.