The Canadian stock market was up in early trade Thursday, but has since fallen into negative territory. The majority of Canadian sectors are under pressure, led by losses in mining and industrial stocks. Global equity markets have turned lower Thursday, following the gains of the previous session.
European markets have turned negative, after a mixed performance in early trade. Concerns over Greece are weighing on investor sentiment. Mixed comments regarding the embattled nation's negotiations with its creditors have sparked uncertainty among investors.
Greek Prime Minister Alexi Tsipras told reporters his government is close to an agreement to secure funding from its lenders, but European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the two sides still have a ways to go.
Markets in the United States are also under pressure Thursday morning. Concerns over Greece and a sell-off in China weighed on the markets, as the Shanghai Composite Index plummeted by 6.5 percent. The unexpected increase in weekly jobless claims is another cause for concern this morning.
After reporting a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing another uptick in initial jobless claims in the week ended May 23rd.
The report said initial jobless claims edged up to 282,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 275,000. The continued increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to dip to 270,000 from the 274,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Pending home sales in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of April, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday, with pending sales jumping to their highest level in nearly nine years.
NAR said its pending home sales index surged up 3.4 percent to 112.4 in April from a slightly upwardly revised 108.7 in March. Economists had expected the index to increase by about 0.8 percent.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 98.82 points or 0.65 percent at 15,011.65.
On Wednesday, the index closed up 59.66 points or 0.40 percent, at 15,110.47. The index scaled an intraday high of 15,144.40 and a low of 15,016.42.
The Capped Industrials Index is sinking by 1.84 percent. Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) is down 1.83 percent and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is dropping by 4.76 percent. Finning International (FTT.TO) is lower by 1.35 percent.
The Diversified Metal and Mining Index is dropping by 1.61 percent. HudBay Mineral (HBM.TO) is lower by 1.07 percent and Capstone Mining (CS.TO) is losing 3.76 percent. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is declining by 2.08 percent and Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) is falling by 3.11 percent.
Teck Resources (TCK-A.TO) is decreasing by 2.77 percent. The company announced that it will implement temporary shutdowns in the third quarter at its six Canadian steelmaking coal operations to align production and inventories with changing coal market conditions.
The Gold Index is dipping by 0.13 percent. B2Gold (BTO.TO) is falling by 0.48 percent and Goldcorp (G.TO) is declining by 0.32 percent. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is losing 0.17 percent and IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is down 0.80 percent. Kinross Gold (K.TO) is decreasing by 1.05 percent.
The Capped Materials Index is also down 0.31 percent. Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is losing 0.31 percent. Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is decreasing by 0.51 percent and Pan American Silver (PAA.TO) is falling by 0.44 percent. Agrium is lower by 0.12 percent.
The Energy Index is decreasing by 0.85 percent. Encana (ECA.TO) is declining by 1.63 percent and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is lower by 1.03 percent. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is falling by 0.40 percent and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is decreasing 1.07 percent.
Legacy Oil + Gas (LEG.TO) is dropping by 1.69 percent and Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.TO) is weakening by 0.83 percent. Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) is surrendering 2.41 percent.
The heavyweight Financial Index is lower by 0.92 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is declining by 1.99 percent and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is decreasing by 1.01 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is down 0.82 percent.
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is falling by 1.41 percent. The company reported second quarter adjusted EPS of C$1.14, compared to C$1.09 last year. Analysts expected EPS of C$1.11.
Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) losing 0.70 percent. The company reported second quarter adjusted EPS of C$1.61, while analysts expected EPS of C$1.60.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is lower by 0.54 percent. The company reported second quarter adjusted EPS of C$2.28, compared to the consensus estimate of C$2.23. The company also announced a quarterly dividend increase of 3 cents per common share to C$1.09 per share.
The Capped Health Care Index is up 0.04 percent. Catamaran (CCT.TO) is gaining 0.27 percent.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX.TO) is climbing by 0.37 percent. The company's Salix Pharmaceuticals subsidiary received FDA approval for Xifaxan 550 mg for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea or IBS-D in adults.
Heroux-Devtek (HRX.TO) is gaining 1.01 percent. The company has executed on May 27 a Memorandum of Settlement with UTC Aerospace Systems.
On the economic front, the Canadian current account deficit widened to C$17.47 billion in the first quarter, according to a report released by Statistics Canada this morning. The deficit in the previous quarter was C$7.25 billion. Economists had expected a deficit of C$18.6 billion.
The Canadian industrial product price index fell by 0.9 percent month-over-month in April. The index was down by 2.4 percent year-over-year.
Eurozone economic confidence remained unchanged at its second highest level in nearly four years in May despite the ongoing Greek crisis, survey results from the European Commission showed Thursday. The economic sentiment index held steady at 103.8 in May, while it was forecast to fall to 103.5. This was the second highest score since July 2011. The April figure was revised up from 103.7.
Germany's import prices continued to fall in April but at a slower than expected pace, data from Destatis revealed Thursday. Import prices fell 0.6 percent year-on-year in April, slower than the expected decrease of 0.7 percent and 1.4 percent decline seen in March.
The U.K. economy grew at a slower pace as initially estimated in the first quarter, second estimates published by the Office for National Statistics showed Thursday. Gross domestic product expanded 0.3 percent in the first quarter, which was weaker than the 0.6 percent seen a quarter ago. This was the slowest growth since the fourth quarter of 2012.
In commodities, crude oil futures for June delivery are down $0.55 or 0.96 percent at $56.96 a barrel.
Natural gas for June is down $0.051 or 1.90 percent at $2.793 per million btu.
Gold futures for June are up $1.40 or 0.12 percent at $1,187.00 an ounce.
Silver for July is up $0.048 or 0.29 percent at $16.695 an ounce.
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