The Canadian stock market is rising in early trade Thursday, as traders react to the latest batch of corporate financial results. The majority of the Canadian sectors are trading in the green this morning, but gold stocks are struggling due a slight dip in gold prices.
Markets in Europe are trading modestly to the upside Thursday. The European Central Bank left its key interest rates, asset purchases and forward guidance unchanged on Thursday, amid softening growth momentum in the euro area.
Markets on Wall Street are rising in early trade Thursday. Traders have reacted positively to a pair of better than expected U.S. economic reports. Weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest level in nearly five decades and durable goods orders topped expectations.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 81.46 points or 0.53 percent at 15,591.21.
On Wednesday, the index closed up 32.75 points or 0.21 percent, at 15,509.75. The index scaled an intraday high of 15,538.52 and a low of 15,443.42.
The Capped Healthcare Index is higher by 1.34 percent. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX.TO) is climbing 1.20 percent.
The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is up 0.84 percent. TELUS (T.TO) is gaining 0.90 percent and BCE (BCE.TO) is higher by 0.57 percent. Rogers Communications (RCI-B.TO) is rising 0.84 percent.
The Capped Information Technology Index is gaining 0.78 percent. Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) is rising 1.11 percent and BlackBerry (BB.TO) is advancing 1.13 percent. Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) is adding 0.83 percent.
The Capped Industrials Index is up 0.68 percent. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is increasing 1.09 percent and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) is rising 0.83 percent. Bombardier (BBD-B.TO) is higher by 0.75 percent and Finning International (FTT.TO) is adding 0.78 percent.
The heavyweight Financial Index is increasing 0.53 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is gaining 0.53 percent and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is advancing 0.18 percent. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is up 0.77 percent and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is climbing 0.81 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is rising 0.58 percent and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) up 0.73 percent.
The Energy Index is rising 0.19 percent. Crude oil prices are inching higher Thursday morning, despite yesterday's unexpected rise in U.S. crude inventories.
Encana (ECA.TO) is climbing 1.16 percent and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is gaining 0.21 percent. Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is up 0.65 percent and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) is adding 0.29 percent.
Husky Energy (HSE.TO) is falling 0.58 percent after it reported a first-quarter profit of $248 million, up from $71 million a year ago.
The Gold Index is increasing 0.22 percent. Gold prices are little changed Thursday morning after the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged.
B2Gold (BTO.TO) is up 1.10 percent and Kinross Gold (K.TO) is climbing 1.60 percent. Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is advancing 1.76 percent.
IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is up 0.29 percent after it announced a strategic investment in Tradewind Markets, Inc., a financial technology company that uses blockchain to speed up and streamline digital gold trading.
Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) is falling 1.99 percent after it earnings totaled $67 million, or $0.08 per share. This compares with $170 million, or $0.20 per share, in last year's first quarter.
The Capped Materials Index is up 0.08 percent. Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is rising 1.11 percent and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is climbing 1.19 percent. Nutrien (NTR.TO) is adding 1.07 percent.
Precision Drilling (PD.TO) is increasing 6.24 percent after it reported that its net loss narrowed to $18.1 million, or six cents per share, in the first quarter ended Mar. 31, from net loss of $22.6 million, or eight cents per share, a year earlier.
On the economic front, Canada's average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $997 in February, little changed from the previous month. Earnings were up 3.4% compared with 12 months earlier, largely the result of gains in the second half of 2017.
German consumer sentiment is set to weaken in May due to rising insecure state of geopolitics, survey data from the market research group GfK showed Thursday. The consumer climate index dropped 0.1 point to 10.8 in May. The score came in line with expectations.
UK mortgage approvals declined to a 3-month low in March, data from UK Finance showed Thursday. The number of loans approved for house purchases fell to a seasonally adjusted 37,567 in March from 38,035 in February. This was the lowest level seen since December. It was forecast to ease to 37,150.
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in nearly five decades in the week ended April 21st, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 209,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised level of 233,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 230,000 from the 232,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Reflecting another jump in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a bigger than expected increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of March.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders surged up by 2.6 percent in March after spiking by an upwardly revised 3.5 percent in February. Economists had expected durable goods orders to climb by 1.6 percent compared to the 3.0 percent jump that had been reported for the previous month.
In commodities, crude oil futures for May delivery are up 0.13 or 0.19 percent at $68.18 a barrel.
Natural gas for May is up 0.007 or 0.25 percent at $2.793 per million btu.
Gold futures for June are down 1.20 or 0.09 percent at $1,321.60 an ounce.
Silver for May is down 0.007 or 0.04 percent at $16.495 an ounce.
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