Stocks in Toronto traded flat Thursday with a 2.18 percent jump in Gold stocks providing a boost to the market that was pressured by a 2.22 percent drop in Health-care stocks on Thursday.
Todays lower close followed five straight days of gains that were fueled by news that interest rates may have finally peaked.
The TSX Composite ended the session negative by 4.82 points at 20,053.07.
On the economic front, the trend in housing starts was higher in October at 256,280 units, up 1% from 253,957 units in September.
U.S tech giant Amazon is investing in its first Canadian wind farm. The company announced it will partner with developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on a 495-megawatt capacity wind farm to be built in Vulcan County in southern Alberta.
The Canadian dollar inched down 0.042 cents at 72.66 cents U.S.
The December gold contract was up US$20.74 at US$1,981.01 an ounce.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 0.91 points to 518.88.
Six of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground Thursday, led by gold, surging 2.18%, materials, better by 1.07%, and industrials stocks, growing 0.63%.
On the downside, health-care slumped 2.22%, energy shed 1.94% and real-estate pulled back 0.64%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S stocks were lower Thursday.
The Dow slipped 45.74 points, or 0.13%, to close at 34,945.47. The S&P 500 edged higher by 0.12% and ended the session at 4,508.24 and the Nasdaq Composite inched up by 0.07%, closing at 14,113.67.
In economic news, the Philadelphia Fed said Thursday that its gauge of regional business activity improved slightly to negative 5.9 in November from negative 9 in the prior month. A Fed report on industrial production showed a drop of 0.6% in October, larger than economists had expected.
The Labor Department said claims for new jobless benefits rose by 13,000 to 231,000 last week, well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of 220,000 and the highest in nearly two years.
Cisco Systems dropped nearly 10% a day after the networking hardware maker offered weak guidance for the current quarter and full fiscal year.
Walmart shares took a hit, dropping more than 8% after the retail giant issued a lacklustre full-year profit outlook, while expressing concern for the health of the U.S. consumer, despite a better-than-expected third quarter earnings update.
Macy’s stock was up nearly 6% after posting stronger-than-expected third quarter earnings as fewer product markdowns and slower freight costs boosted margins by 1.1%.
Oil prices edged lower on Thursday, extending losses from the previous session as signals of higher supply from the United States met concern over muted energy demand from China.
WTI Crude Oil was down $1.55 at $76.66 U.S a barrel.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was off by 8.4 basis points at 4.453%.
