Canadian stocks opened higher, taking in the good jobs vibes south of the border.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 28.36 points to open Thursday at 15,238.15.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.04 cents to 93.72 cents U.S.
Iron ore miner Labrador Iron Mines Holdings said it had halted mining operations this year, as falling prices on the back of a surge in global supply hit smaller producers. Labrador shares dropped a penny to 8.5 cents.
Hungary's government plans to make further acquisitions in the energy sector and is also in advanced talks to buy Bombardier's stake in Hungarian rail transportation firm Bombardier MAV Kft, the development minister said. Bombardier shares eked up three cents to $3.83.
National Bank Financial raised the rating on Cathedral Energy Services to outperform from sector perform rating. Cathedral shares chased up a dime, or more than 2%, to $5.02.
Statistics Canada reported this morning that our merchandise exports advanced 3.5% and imports grew 1.6% in May. As a result, Canada's trade deficit with the world narrowed from $961 million in April to $152 million in May.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 0.72 points to 1,035.35.
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher, co-led by global base metals and their cousins in the metals and mining group, each up 1.1%, while consumer discretionaries hiked 0.7%.
The five laggards were weighed by gold, down 1.5%, while materials and real-estate each sank 0.4%
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow finally hit 17,000! After a whole week of gingerly tiptoeing to the line, the market finally crossed this mark Thursday morning.
The Dow picked up 20.17 points to begin the last day of a short week at 16,976.24
The S&P 500 gathered 1.30 points to 1,974.62, and the NASDAQ composite eased 0.92 points to 4,457.73.
U.S. markets will close early today ahead of the July 4th holiday weekend. So far Hurricane Arthur does not seem to be impacting stocks.
There isn't much deal news or analyst stock upgrades or downgrades before the long weekend, so most stocks are moving modestly. Goldman Sachs is up 1.6% in early trading, and online travel booking company Expedia is up over 1.5%.
Intel shares are up 20% so far this year, making it the second best performing stock in the Dow.
Nathan's Famous hot dogs, sponsor of the big eating contest on July 4 on New York Coney Island, is a publicly traded company. The stock is down slightly in trading today, but it's up over 7% so far this year and has truly been a "top dog" stock in recent years.
A strong June job reports drove the optimism in the stock market. The U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.1%, down from 6.3% in May. That was much better than economists or Wall Street expected.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries slumped, raising yields to 2.67% from Wednesday’s 2.63%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices demurred 59 cents to $103.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices moved down $12.50 to $1,318.40 U.S. an ounce.
