General market weakness greeted the closing bell on Thursday on both sides of the border, as suspense reigned over whether a trade deal could be worked out between Canada and the U.S. before a Friday tariff deadline.
The TSX Composite Index lost 110.18 points to close Thursday at 27,259.78.
The Canadian dollar shed 0.15 cents at 72.18 cents U.S.
Techs led the downers, as Dye & Durham lost 39 cents, or 3.4%, to $11.19, while Lightspeed Commerce tumbled 93 cents, or 5.1%, to $17.27.
In energy stocks, Enerflex lost 36 cents, or 3.2%, to $11.06, while Paramount Resources gave back 61 cents, or 2.8%, to $21.31.
In consumer staples, Alimentation Couche-Tard dipped $1.13, or 1.6%, to $72.00, while Maple Leaf Foods descended 42 cents, or 1.4%, to $29.24.
Resource stocks tried to balance things out, with Ero Copper tacking on 75 cents, or 4.2%, to $18.74, while Capstone Mining grabbed 30 cents, or 4%, to $7.83.
Kinross Gold climbed 77 cents, or 3.6%, to $22.13, while OceanaGold took on 12 cents to $18.82.
On the economic slate, real gross domestic product (GDP) edged down 0.1% in May for the second consecutive month, as goods-producing industries declined while services-producing industries were essentially unchanged.
Elsewhere, payroll employment numbers increased by 15,300 (+0.1%) in May, after edging up 14,600 (+0.1%) in April. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 43,300 (+0.2%) in May.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged ahead 0.75 points to 770.88.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower on the day, weighed most by energy, flagging 1.2%, information technology, down 1%, and consumer staples, off 0.7%.
The lone gainers were materials, better by 0.3%, and gold, positive only 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks wavered on Thursday with the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite hitting intraday records before pulling back from those levels, as struggles in the broader market overshadowed blockbuster results from megacap tech giants Microsoft and Meta Platforms.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average blundered 330.3 points to finish Thursday at 44,130.98.
The broader market moved backward 23.51 points to 6,339.39.
The NASDAQ settled back 7.23 points to 21,122.45.
“Magnificent Seven” titans Microsoft jumped 4% and Meta rose 12% on the back of better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Software giant Microsoft said that annual revenue from its cloud computing service Azure exceeded $75 billion.
Meta issued an upbeat third-quarter sales outlook, surpassing the Street’s estimates. Microsoft’s strong earnings print propelled the company to a $4-trillion market capitalization.
Fellow Mag-7 names Apple and Amazon are slated to report earnings after the bell Thursday.
The continued rise of tech stocks failed to boost the broader market on Thursday, however, with six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors in the red. UnitedHealth dipped 5% and Merck fell 4%, to lead the way lower.
To be sure, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday said negotiations with China are at a point where both sides “have the makings of a deal.”
Bessent did not give any details on a potential deal, however, nor did he indicate when such an agreement could be made. The U.S. and China have until Aug. 12 before the truce over aggressive tariffs runs out.
His comments come ahead of a key Friday, Aug. 1 trade deadline.
Prices for the 10-year treasury fell back, raising yields back to Wednesday’s 4.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell back 85 cents to $69.15 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faded $8.50 at $3,344.30 U.S. an ounce.
