Feb. 25, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
The Canadian market may witness a mixed opening session Thursday, with solid earnings from Canadian banks likely to offset concerns about lingering weakness in the U.S. jobs market.
The S&P/TSX composite index was off 48.53 points at the outset to 11,473.30
The financials stocks may thrive on solid earnings reported by Canadian Imperial Bank and National Bank of Canada. Energy sector may feel the heat early in the day as the price of oil eased somewhat.
In corporate announcements, Canadian Imperial Bank reported a rise in first-quarter earnings to $652 million from $147 million in the prior-year quarter.
National Bank of Canada reported a substantial increase in first-quarter net income to $215 million from $69 million in the comparable quarter.
Suncor Energy announced the sale of its natural gas assets in Trinidad and Tobago to British energy company Centrica PLC for approximately $380-million U.S.
Pharmaceutical company Biovail Corp. reported a decline in its fourth-quarter net income to $73.0 million U.S. from $120.4 million U.S. in the year-ago quarter.
Paladin Labs Inc. reported its net income for the fourth quarter decreased to $4.4 million from $6.1 million last year.
Coffee chain Tim Hortons Inc. reported a 31.6% increase in its fourth-quarter net income to $91.0 million from $69.1 million last year. It also declared a dividend of $0.13 per common share, payable on March 23.
Phoenix Coal Inc. announced the completion of the sale of its Panama South property lease to a major U.S. coal producer for $10 million U.S.
The Canadian dollar subsided 1.07 cents to 93.77 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups went down. Metals and mining took the biggest hit, at 1.9%, followed by global base metals, down 1.6%, energy stocks were off 1.5%.
The three gainers were headed by gold, up 1%, followed by industrials, gaining 0.4%, and financials, ahead 0.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange fell back 15.69 points to 1,503.72, while the Nasdaq Canada index slipped 13.57 points to 732.37.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks plunged at the open on Thursday following a dismal report on jobless claims and heightened worries over Greece.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 156.29 points, or 1.5%, to start the session at 10,217.87.
The S&P 500 index stumbled 15.22 points to 1,090.02, and the Nasdaq composite subtracted 32.35 points to 2,203.55.
Investors are also awaiting a second day of testimony from Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke on Capitol Hill. Wall Street rallied Wednesday after Bernanke again vowed to keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future, reassuring worried investors. The blue-chip Dow gained nearly 100 points.
But the positive sentiment didn't last. Some experts pointed to the turmoil in Europe, highlighted by the fact that thousands of Greek workers went on strike on Wednesday, which is prompting Wall Street to question its recent advances.
On the economic front, the Labor Department released its weekly jobless claims report before the opening bell on Thursday.
Initial jobless claims surged to 496,000 in the week ended Feb. 20. That's much more than the 460,000 claims projected by a consensus of economist opinion from Briefing.com. It's also much larger than the revised tally of 474,000 claims reported for the prior week.
Also, the Census Bureau released its monthly report on orders for durable goods, a barometer for manufacturing that rose much more than expected.
Orders for durable goods rose 3% in January, the government reported. The orders were expected to have risen 1.5%, according to Briefing.com consensus.
With employment still weak, investors were reassured that the Fed was unlikely to raise short-term interest rates anytime soon.
The Fed chief is scheduled to appear before a Senate panel Thursday, basically repeating the testimony he gave to the House panel.
Coca-Cola has agreed to buy the North America operations of its biggest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, in a deal worth about $12 billion U.S., including nearly $9 billion U.S. in assumed debt.
Treasury prices moved up, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.64% from 3.69% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil backpedaled $1.96 to $78.04 U.S.
Gold prices nipped up a dollar to $1,098 U.S.